Virginia's Smith

In 1923 a portrait of Captain John Smith by Sir Godfrey Kneller was purchased in London and presented to the State of Virginia by 15 dignified citizens. The portrait was hung in the Governor's office in Richmond. It showed the old hero in a cuirass and heavy whiskers; an Oriental headdress covered the scalp preserved to him and Virginia by the love of Pocahontas. This headdress roused the suspicions of Richmond's polished, witty Alexander Weddell, U. S. Ambassador to Argentina.

From Richmond last week came the report of Mr. Weddell's investigations. Sir Godfrey Kneller, court painter to England's King Charles II and signer of the Richmond portrait, did two pictures of Piotr Ivanovich Potemkin, Russian envoy to the Court of St. James's in 1681. Comparing Richmond's John Smith with both, Mr. Weddell found the subject identical. Vaguely London dealers murmured that Sir Godfrey's favorite engraver was named John Smith: maybe that was how Piotr Ivanovich Potemkin passed for Virginia's Smith.

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