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About Russell Smith
The Tunnel near Giornico on the St. Gotthard Pass is a major, large-scale work by Scottish-born artist William Thompson Russell Smith (1812-1896). The painter was trained by James Reid Lambdin (1807-1889), a student of Thomas Sully. At the same time he was painting portraits. In 1833, Smith turned from portraiture to scene painting for local theaters; in his landscape painting, Smith relied on the tradition of Joshua Shaw, Thomas Birch and Thomas Doughty. Our painting illustrates a spot that overlooks the Valley of Ticino to the northeast. Ticino is a canton in Southern Switzerland, bordering Italy. A river, most likely the Ticino, which circles the eastern boundary of the canton, appears through the foreground and gently meanders into the background. Two men in a rowboat are transporting barrels. Immense mountains rise dramatically on both sides, and in the distance, even more spectacular, is the snow-capped peak. Smith used a classical Hudson River School-type composition with large, dark masses on either side of a central open area where the viewer is led back into space. Here the focal point is the snow-covered mountain peak in the background.
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Paintings by Russell Smith
| Ticino Valley, Switzerland |
| oil on canvas: 44 5/8 x 60 inches |
| signed: lower right |
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