, who complemented Hodgson as a painter of architectural subjects Hodgson was one of the second generation of artists of
Norwich School of painters, several of whom were trained by their own fathers, but who were also influenced by the work of later painters. Like his contemporary
Henry Ninham, he became an accomplished painter of architectural subjects, and the two artists complemented each other in this respect, but Ninham's oil paintings are considered to possess more finesse. Along with Ninham he was the foremost illustrator of Norwich's architectural heritage following John Thirtle's death in 1839, but he took more interest than Ninham in depicting architectural ruins. He is acknowledged as having made a substantial contribution to
topographical lithography with his illustrations of the bridges of Norfolk (published in 1831), which were based on the drawings of his father-in-law Francis Stone. He exhibited his works on a regular basis at the Norwich Society of Arts and in other cities around England. In Norwich, he exhibited 30 landscapes, one portrait, three figures, one still life and 75 architectural drawings, over a period of twenty years, out of a total of 114 works. In London, he showed one painting at the
Royal Academy of Arts, twenty-seven paintings at the
British Institution and eleven paintings with the
Royal Society of British Artists at
Suffolk Street. The art
historian Harold Day, who along with Andrew Moore has provided a detailed account of Hodgson's life and work, praised him for his depiction of the interiors of buildings. The number of paintings he exhibited during his career was affected by both his professional career as a schoolmaster and the large number of his works that he sold to private buyers. He received regular praise in the local press, for instance when the
Norwich Chronicle praised his work as "promising", and on another occasion reported that he "demonstrated a lasting concern with problems of perspective". His
Norwich Fishmarket was the first of his works to receive critical acclaim in the press. In 1822 he became Secretary of the Norwich Society of Artists and played an important part in the running of the Society at a time when it was struggling without permanent premises with which to exhibit its works. Along with Robert Leman and Thomas Lound, he started the Norwich Amateur Club whose aim to allow artists to practise their sketching skills, and with Lound he revived the Artists' Conversaziones, in which artists met as friends to discuss their work. First held on 21 January 1830, when Hodgson was made Honorary Secretary, the Conversaziones was finally wound up in 1839. In 1832, the year Hodgson began his employment as a drawing master at the Grammar School, the
Duke of Sussex appointed him as his Painter of Domestic Architecture, an appointment which does not seem to have produced much financial gain for him in the form of direct patronage. A visit to
Ely in 1858 resulted in several paintings.
Artistic and literary output Hodgson mainly worked in
oils and produced few
watercolours of a high quality. His sketches and watercolour studies were later used as the basis for future works. Hodgson's paintings have at times been confused with those of his father, whose footsteps he followed, but whose works were of a less domestic nature than his son's. The works he produced during the latter part of his career show little significant development in style from earlier works dating back to 1822. They have been criticised for their poor colouring, for instance by Miklos Rajnai, who described his technique as 'clotted' and 'treacley' with a tendency towards yellows and browns. Hodgson's reputation rests upon his ability as a painter of oils, but not for his
etchings. These were influenced to an extent by John Sell Cotman, and were also possibly influenced by
George Cuitt (1774-1854), according to the historians Andrew Moore and Russell Searle. The etchings of Henry Ninham are finer in quality, and whilst Hodgson was technically accomplished, he lacked Cotman's skills and draughtsmanship. In Searle's opinion, his outstanding plate is
Sandlings Ferry from
Antiquarian Remains Principally confined to Norwich and Norfolk, an etching that strikes him as "brooding" and being unlike that of any other by an artist of the Norwich School. Hodgson was more literary and articulate than many of his contemporaries. His
Lessons on Perspective were published in the
Norwich Mercury on 20 July 1822, he wrote an unpublished
memoir about the life of his father, now kept in the
British Museum, which outlined Charles Hodgson's career, and he also had his own poetry published. His letters to the local press included one to the
Norwich Mercury dated 4 August 1858, about Norwich's civic portrait collection. His surviving correspondence shows that he was a strong advocate for the arts in Norwich, and was among the first to write about the Norwich School of painters as an identifiable entity. He possessed excellent skills in
perspective. Andrew Moore described him as "a competent draughtsman and landscapist", and the art historian Josephine Walpole described his
The Octagon, Ely Cathedral, 1857 as an "almost incredible achievement". Some of his paintings now show signs of being badly affected by cracking, as do many of his generation of the artists of the Norwich School.
Works • • Copies held at the Millennium Library in Norwich, and at the
University of East Anglia. The plates, based on earlier sketches, were in preparation for least five years. • Copies of this work are held at the Millennium Library in Norwich. The preface contains tributes by Hodgson to John Crome, Robert Ladbrooke, George Vincent, James Stark,
John Berney Crome, John Sell Cotman and Charles Hodgson. • ==Gallery==