Frederic Marlett Bell-Smith was born in London, England, in 1846. He studied at the South Kensington Art Schools in London. In 1866, he emigrated to Canada where he settled in Montreal and found work as a photographer. Along with his father, he was part of a group that founded the Society of Canadian Artists in 186 7. Besides a variety of subject matter painted mainly in oil or watercolour, he did illustrations for newspapers and other periodicals. He travelled to England in 189 5, where he painted a series of pictures on the death of Sir John Thompson. The next year, he studied at the Academie Colarossi, in Paris. In 1880, he became an Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy, a full member in 1886 and a member of the Ontario Society of Artists in 1872. From 1881to1910, he taught art in Hamilton, Toronto and St. Thomas, Ontario. He died in Toronto in 1923.
