Russell Smith was born William Thompson Russell Smith in Glasgow, Scotland in 1812. His parents were social reformers, and the family emigrated to America in 1819, eventually settling in Pittsburgh. There, Smith undertook formal arts instruction with James Reid Lambdin, who had studied with Thomas Sully. Smith became successful as a painter of theatrical scenes and stage curtains, earning commissions from theaters in major cities along the eastern seaboard. He also executed portraits and landscapes, and began showing his landscapes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 1834. He moved to Philadelphia in 1835, where he continued to exhibit regularly at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts through 1889. (His work was also shown at the National Academy of Design, Boston Athenaeum, Artist’s Fund Society and Philadelphia’s Centennial Exhibition in 1876.) Inspired by Hudson River School artists such as Thomas Cole, Smith undertook a series of summer sketching tours. His work of the late 1830s and 1840s document his travels in Virginia, including images of Charlottesville and Mount Vernon. Smith also served as a scientific illustrator on geological expeditions, notably with William Barton Rogers in1844. He married Mary Priscilla Wilson, a flower painter and French and drawing tutor, in 1838. The couple had two children, Xanthus Russell Smith and Mary Russell Smith, who were taught by their mother, and also became accomplished artists.