What You Will
Unusual beginnings as the proprietor of a successful London drapery shop earned Smith the nickname 'Old Drapery Face'. He devoted his spare time to miniature and portrait painting and before long took up engraving - it is as a printmaker that his reputation is greatest. Our picture is one of a set of four, of which Smith produced printed versions in 1791. They were called A Maid; A Wife, A Widow and What You will. In this picture, not strictly a portrait, the artist has used a model to illustrate the fashionable, flirtatious type of woman he wanted to portray. Smith's subject matter here reflects a change in society's attitudes towards the women in the 18th century whose roles were considered less socially acceptable. While the morals of those who were actresses or well-known mistresses were still publicly frowned upon the outrage declared was often pretence, expressed to define the upright morals of the rest of society. In reality, such women were often fêted, many becoming subjects for the most fashionable portrait painters of their day.
