Oil paint on canvas
Tate Collection
Works with images
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<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sir-joshua-reynolds-444" aria-label="More by Sir Joshua Reynolds" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Sir Joshua Reynolds</a>
Sir James Hodges
Presented by Alfred A. de Pass 1920
actions: postures and motions
adults
chair
clerk
clothing and personal items
cloud
curtain
domestic
furnishings
Hodges, James, Sir
individuals: male
inkstand
interiors
knight
landscape
leisure and pastimes
letter
man
named individuals
objects
official
people
portraits
public service
quill pen
reading
reading, writing, printed matter
recreational activities
robe
royalty and social rank
sitting
sky
study
table
weather
wig
work and occupations
<p>In this portrait, James Hodges is depicted in his capacity as Town Clerk and Deputy Chamberlain of the City of London. Hodges's official robes are worn over a claret-coloured velvet suit with lace ruffles, his powdered bob-wig reinforcing his sense of dignity. The pose adopted by Hodges is common in Reynolds's portraits of men in public office. It was derived ultimately from Italian Renaissance portraiture, where it was invariably reserved for scholarly, patriarchal figures. Reynolds purchased the chair in which Hodges is seated especially for his portrait sitters. It now belongs to the Royal Academy of Arts.</p><p><em>Gallery label, August 2004</em></p>
painting oil paint canvas
7 November 2017 – 10 February 2018
2018-02-10
7 November 2017 – 10 February 2018
2018-02-10
2017-11-07
Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes (Mexico City, Mexico)
2017-11-07
Mexican Red: The Cochineal
Loan-out
26 November 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
26 November 2018 – 14 July 2019
2019-07-14
2018-11-26
Tate Britain (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/britain/
2018-11-26
Joshua Reynolds
Collection based display
Sir James Hodges
support: 1270 × 1016 mm
frame: 1510 × 1260 × 125mm
Presented by Alfred A. de Pass 1920
<br/>This is an official <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a> of Sir James Hodges in his official role as Town Clerk and Deputy Chamberlain of the City of London. His robes are worn over a claret-coloured velvet suit with lace ruffles. On his head he wears a powdered bob-wig. The pose adopted by Hodges is common in Reynolds's portraits of men in public office, one hand resting on a table strewn with official papers, the other grasping an official looking document. There are countless variations on this theme in Western Art, an attitude derived ultimately from Italian <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/renaissance" title="Glossary definition for 'Renaissance'"><span>Renaissance</span></a> portraiture, where it was reserved for scholarly, patriarchal figures. The impression of ordered seriousness and authority in this portrait is reinforced by the subject's surroundings, which are redolent of a book-lined study.

<p>Sir James Hodges (d.1774), who also worked as a bookseller, was appointed Town Clerk of London in 1757, an office which he held until his death. He was knighted on 8 June 1759. Hodges died on 16 November 1774, either at his house in Highgate or possibly in Bath. His wife, Mary, died on 4 August 1787 aged sixty-six.<br/></p><blockquote><br/></blockquote>The armchair in which Hodges sits is a distinctive and radically modern piece of furniture, upholstered in crimson velvet with a floral pattern and of a <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/n/neoclassicism" title="Glossary definition for 'Neoclassicism'"><span>neoclassical</span></a> design, as revealed here by the curved fluting on the wooden arm rest. After Reynolds's death, his niece gave the chair to the artist James Barry (1741-1806). It was subsequently purchased at auction by Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) and then passed by purchase to successive Presidents of the Royal Academy until Lord Leighton (1830-96) presented it to the Academy in 1879. The majority of Reynolds's sitters, male and female alike, would have occupied this chair while having their portrait painted. However, Reynolds only incorporated it into male seated portraits, invariably of middle-aged men in public life. An unexpected exception to the 'men-only' rule is an unfinished portrait of 1763-4 of the courtesan <i>Kitty Fisher</i> (Trustees of the Bowood Collection), who lounges in the armchair, toying with Reynolds's pet macaw.   <br/><blockquote><br/></blockquote>The other prominent studio prop to be seen in the present portrait, and which recurs in Reynolds's official male portraits, is the silver inkstand. This inkstand, with claw feet and three glass containers (designed to hold <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/ink" title="Glossary definition for 'Ink'"><span>ink</span></a>, drying sand and quills), still belongs to Reynolds's descendants. In the present portrait, the inkstand, like the sitters' chair, was almost certainly painted by one of Reynolds's pupils, since Reynolds would not have bothered himself with such peripheral details.

<p><b>Further reading:<br/></b><b><br/></b>David Mannings, <i>Sir Joshua Reynolds. A Complete Catalogue of  his Paintings</i>, 2 vols., New Haven and London 2000, vol.1, p.259, vol. 2, p.363, fig. 829<b> <br/></b><b><br/></b>Martin Postle<br/>December 2000</p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
<p>In this <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portrait" title="Glossary definition for 'Portrait'"><span>portrait</span></a>, James Hodges is depicted in his capacity as Town Clerk and Deputy Chamberlain  of the City of London. Hodges's official robes are worn over a claret-coloured velvet suit with lace ruffles, his powdered bob-wig reinforcing his sense of dignity. The pose adopted by Hodges  is common in Reynolds's portraits of men in  public office. It was derived ultimately from Italian <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/r/renaissance" title="Glossary definition for 'Renaissance'"><span>Renaissance</span></a> portraiture, where it was invariably reserved for scholarly, patriarchal figures. Reynolds purchased the chair in which Hodges is seated especially for his portrait sitters. It now belongs  to the Royal Academy of Arts.
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Display caption
2004-08-18T00:00:00
display-caption
DISPLAY_CAPTION
actions: postures and motions adults chair clerk clothing and personal items cloud curtain domestic furnishings Hodges, James, Sir individuals: male inkstand interiors knight landscape leisure and pastimes letter man named individuals objects official people portraits public service quill pen reading reading, writing, printed matter recreational activities robe royalty and social rank sitting sky study table weather wig work and occupations