Smythe Collection
In 2015, Colin Smythe donated prints and paintings by his grandfather Richard Smythe (né Smith) (1863-1934).
Having studied at the Manchester School of Art, Richard Smythe exhibited at the Royal Academy and Berlin Academy. He had changed his name from Smith to Smythe prior to his marriage to Ada King in 1896.
Richard was an inventor. He gave away the idea of adding a rubber at the end of a pencil to a friend to patent and invented a security device for bicycles that would shoot the would-be thief in the leg if not deactivated.
He died in 1934 at his home in Hampton Hill, Middlesex.
Smythe created mezzotints after famous works of art by artists including Etty, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Reynolds, Romney, Turner and others.
