Henry Hodgins, Landscape and Scene-Painter
(fl. 1762-1801)
Landscape and Scene-Painter
From A Dictionary of Irish Artists 1913
Was born in Dublin, where his mother was proprietress of the Bear Coffee House in Temple Bar. He became a pupil of Robert Carver (q.v.), and was employed as a scene-painter at Crow Street Theatre. Joseph Vernon the singer, who was engaged at Crow Street, was lodging at the Bear Coffee House, and on the death of Mrs. Hodgins in April, 1762, and his departure for England about the same time, he invited Hodgins to accompany him to London, an offer which the young artist, anxious to advance himself, eagerly accepted. Before he left he had a benefit on 30th April, 1762, at Crow Street. In London he became connected with Covent Garden Theatre, where he worked for many years, and was accounted one of the best scene-painters of his time. "His celerity in painting," says O'Keeffe ("Recollections," II, 41), "was wonderful; he could by a knack peculiarly his own paint a whole flat scene in a day." He exhibited four landscapes with the Society of Artists in London between 1778 and 1783. The "Gentleman's Magazine" announced his death at Maidstone on 11th September, 1796.