Paintings depicted our very fine city

October 21, 2003

HODGSON ROAD
(George Borrow Road)

A city street scene in oils by David Hodgson.

A WONDERFUL look at life in old Norwich.. thanks to David Hodgson, the talented artist this road is named after.

It is almost impossible now to imagine what Norwich looked like early in the 19th century unless you look at the pictures from a man who lived in the heart of the city.

Young David had a lot to live up to. His father, Charles, had also been an excellent painter and a respected schoolmaster in the city.

Charles was born in 1770 and
moved to Norwich from North Walsham after marrying Nancy Chiswell. He taught at Norwich Grammar School and opened his own boarding Academy in St Andrew’s for the “admission of young ladies and gentlemen”.

In Norwich he made friends with the likes of Crome and Ladbrooke and started painting.

In 1806 he took his son, David, on a sketching holiday to Wales that sparked the interest which led him to becoming a wonderful artist.

Charles, who had a reputation as being quiet and well liked among his pupils and fellow artists, went on to become President of the Norwich Society in 1813 and then architectural draughtsman to the Duke of Sussex.

David was a pupil at Norwich Grammar School and soon picked up a reputation as a skilled artist. After leaving school he ended up living and working in a studio at Tombland. He made an excellent living as a painter and was a popular teacher. He later moved to live in King Street, Norwich.

After the death of his father, he was appointed art master at the grammar school and exhibited his work across the country.

In 1823 he married Frances Stone and he was also taken on by the Duke of Sussex. He was his Painter of Domestic Architecture.

David Hodgson died in 1864, but his stunning pictures are a vivid window on a world now long gone. Collections of his work are at Norwich Castle.

When WF Dickes wrote his history of the Norwich School of Painting in 1905 he said: “Dear old David Hodgson — as kind and genial a soul as ever lived.”

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