Smithfield Market, London was one of a series of London Markets that Jacqueline Stanley painted towards the end of the 1960s, at a time when many of the traditional markets were under pressure to move or change. In 1964, Jacqueline had returned from painting the landscapes of Kent, to live in swinging London. Towards the end of the turbulent ‘60s, she was teaching fine art at the Byam Shaw and Hornsey College of Art.
She would often take her students to the markets to paint, draw and photograph a rapidly changing London. The other London market paintings include Billingsgate, Covent Garden, and Leadenhall. Later on Jacqueline would go on to do paintings of Brixton Market and Peckham Arcade in South London.