Frederick Hodgson, Esq. (d.1854)

Frederick Hodgson represents a typical provincial portrait commission of the kind that formed the bread and butter of Beechey's extensive practice. Such portraits documented the prosperous merchant and professional classes of Georgian England for family posterity. Beechey was knighted in 1798 and was a full Royal Academician; his oil portraits are characterized by solid, dependable technique and a straightforward honesty of likeness that made him widely trusted by patrons across English society.

The solid, straightforward composition presents the sitter with appropriate dignity, Beechey's competent brushwork rendering features and costume with naturalistic clarity.