After receiving his academic education at the University of the City of New York (later N.Y.U.), James David Smillie worked as an engraver with his artist father, James. The elder Smillie had begun instructing his son in engraving when the latter was still a child; father and son collaborated on many projects, among them the banknote vignettes for the American Bank Note Company. James David's artistic interests soon caused him to expand his talents to include etching, dry point, aquatint and lithography. By 1864 the artist had turned his attention almost exclusively to landscape painting. Smillie's particular interest in depicting mountain ranges caused him to travel extensively: among the sites he painted are the Adirondacks, the White Mountains, Yosemite and the High Sierras. Smillie also made a sketching trip to Europe which produced views of Vesuvius and France's Normandy coast. The artist continued to work as an engraver throughout his career providing illustrations for the works of Dickens and Cooper, and for publications such as Appleton's Picturesque America (1872-74).
Smillie first exhibited at the Academy in 1864, and he continued to show almost annually throughout his career. The artist also served the Academy as a council member and as treasurer. In addition to his involvement with the NAD, Smillie fostered the development and growth of other artist's organizations; in 1866, he helped to fund the American Water Colour Society, for which he served as treasurer and president; in 1877, he helped to organize the New York Etching Club. Smillie was also a fellow of the Painters-Etchers Society of London. In addition to exhibiting at the NAD, the artist also showed at the Boston Athenaeum and the PAFA.
On April 5, 1909, just five months before his death, Smillie donated a landsape by Thomas Doughty to the NAD. The work had been owned first by his father who had acquired it about 1836. Five years later, Smillie's son, James C., was to acknowledge his father's close affiliation with the Academy by donating his father's etching materials.
