Samuel John Hodson RWS RBA (1836-1908) - 1880 Watercolour Dieppe

Description

A street scene in Dieppe, France. Presented glazed in a white and brown double mount and a distressed gilt-effect wooden frame. Inscribed with the location to the lower-left edge and signed and dated to the lower-right edge, partially obscured by the mount. The name of the artist is also inscribed on a plaque at the lower edge of the frame. On watercolour paper.

Condition

There is some discolouration, primarily to the sky. Overall well-presented and in good condition.

Size

24 x 16cm (9.4" x 6.3")

Artist Biography

Samuel John Hodson RWS RBA (1836-1908) was a British watercolour artist who mainly produced landscape paintings of European towns and buildings with figures. He was a member of the Royal Watercolour Society. In 1850 (aged 15) Hodson became an apprentice to Edmund Hardy, a card-maker, for a period of seven years within the Goldsmiths' Company and on completion became a member of the Goldsmiths and a Freeman of the City of London. While still an apprentice in 1851 he was articled, as a printer, to Charles Blair Leighton, artist and father of the oil painter Edmund Blair Leighton ROI (1852-1922). This was where he learned the process of lithography. He also learned about aquatinting and drawing on wood under Josiah Wood Whymper (wood-engraver, illustrator and watercolourist). Hodson found he preferred the creativity of watercolours to that of printing and from 1858 worked as a professional artist after studying at Leigh's Academy, The School of Design, Somerset House, and later at the Royal Academy.


Very early in his career as an artist, in 1859, Hodson was commissioned to paint Queen Victoria opening Parliament. In 1860 he exhibited work at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of British Artists. He became an associate member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1882 and a full member in 1890. Intermittently. he was a member of the RWS's council and in 1896/97 was its temporary secretary. He was also a member of the Royal Society of British Artists from 1890.


Hodson taught drawing and watercolour painting for 12 years at the Crystal Palace School of Art (no longer in existence). He travelled extensively throughout Europe painting landscapes and townscapes. His paintings were often of bustling market squares and busy streets. His style was delicate and impressionistic. While working at The Graphic from 1874 to 1898 he met fellow artists Hubert von Herkomer, John Ruskin, and William Callow and their influence may be seen in Hodson's work. Examples of his work can be found at the British Museum, the Victoria and Albert Museum, Haworth Art Gallery in Accrington, and in the Knohl Collection. He has two paintings in the Royal Collection archives, market scenes of Bonn and Abbeville. His paintings have sold through Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and Bonhams.

Location

Dieppe, Seine-Maritime, Normandy, France, 76200