William Hodges

British, 1744 - 1797

BiographyWilliam Hodges, born in 1774, was the pupil and assistant of Richard Wilson until 1765. In 1772 Hodges was appointed as the official artist to document locations during James Cook's second voyage, undertaken in RESOLUTION and ADEVENTURE during 1772 -1775. It was in this role that Hodges' would be most remembered for, in particular his landscape scenes of Tahiti and New Zealand and portrait of Cook.

On Hodges' return to England he was re-employed by the Admiralty to work up his sketches for publication in the voyage proceedings and to paint further pictures for them.
On completion of these in 1778 - 79 Hodges travelled to India where he lived for a number of years and made numerous sketches of the local scenery, inhabitants and buildings. On his return to England Hodges exhibited and published these Indian views to some success but was condemned in 1795 for an exhibition on two themes of war which was shut down for being inflammatory.

Hodges retired from painting after this experience and focused on a business venture in banking that he had funded with money he had made in India. Regrettably, like his war exhibition, Hodges' timing was off and a national financial crisis saw his bank close and he was left in poverty. Hodges died the day after the closure and was survived only briefly by his third wife, with their children being raised with the support of family and friends.

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