John Smart was born at 13 Annandale Street off
Leith Walk, the son of Emily Margaret Morton and Robert Campbell Smart (d.1871), an
engraver operating from 20 Elm Row. He was educated at
Leith High School, and then studied art at the School of Manufacturers, with the intention of becoming an engraver like his father. After showing talent for landscape painting, he instead became a pupil of
Horatio McCulloch. He was one of the founder members of the
Royal Scottish Society of Painters in Watercolour and he was elected to the
Royal Scottish Academy in 1877 after first being elected an associate in 1871. Smart's paintings depicted scenery from across the lowlands and highlands of Scotland. The critic
James Caw said of Smart's landscape paintings, "If coarse in handling and wanting in subtlety of feeling, they are simple and effective in design, vivid in effect and powerful in execution, and breathe an ardent passion for the landscape of his native land." Both his house and studio were at 13 Brunswick Street in
Edinburgh's east end. The distinctive terraced townhouse was designed by
William Henry Playfair in 1824. He is buried with his wife, Agnes Purdie Main, in
Warriston Cemetery on the north side of the central roundel. ==Works==