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Portrait of Frederick George Smyth by David Gee

This portrait of Frederick George Smyth, a pupil at the Coventry Free Grammar School (now King Henry VIII School), was painted in 1858 by the renowned Coventry artist, David Gee (1793-1872), and it hangs in the King Henry VIII School Archive.

Frederick Smyth is posing with the Form 3 Class Prize given by the Trustees of the Coventry Free Grammar School which was reported in the Coventry Times on 23 June 1858. The Old Grammar School building can be seen in the background.

The prize takes the form of a book embossed with the school crest. One of the books in the painting bears the City’s coat of arms, which in those days was also the school’s crest. After 1885, prizes were embossed with the Hales coat of arms.

Removed from its frame, it is possible to discern that the painting is signed "D Gee".

According to a letter dated 2 February 2015 (in response to Freedom of Information Act 2000 request ref no 20123607), the Herbert Art Gallery and Museum have 15 of David Gee’s pictures in their collection their value ranging from £2,000 for portraits to £30,000 for his famous “Lammas Day” Coventry landscape.^[1]

Links

https://www.coventry.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/15874/20123607.pdf

^ "Art UK | Discover Artworks". artuk.org. Retrieved 2021-05-20.

[1] "Art UK | Discover Artworks". artuk.org. Retrieved 2021-05-20.

[1]