Print collector's quarterly (12.1925)

'William Anderson—which is not well known—is, in my
opinion, one of the finest examples of male portraiture
in mezzotint.
S. W. Reynolds is represented by Francis Horner, M.P.,
whose early death was much deplored by Cockburn and
Jeffrey. Sydney Smith said of him that he had the
Ten Commandments written all over his face.
Very little is known of the engraver Thomas Hodgetts.
Professor Hind just records his name, and he is not
even mentioned in Bryan. He may have been a pupil
of George Dawe’s, as one Raeburn portrait—that of
the Rev. Andrew Hunter—is engraved by the two in
collaboration. He himself seems to have worked all
his life in London, though his son, R. M. Hodgetts, lived
and worked in Edinburgh. I have been told of a tradi-
tion that he was a friend of Morland, but the latter died
before Hodgetts’ earliest dated print appeared, which,
so far as I know, was in 1808. The firm of Thomas
Hodgetts and Son were also publishers of prints. The
father engraved three of the Liber Studiorum plates for
J. M. W. Turner, on the quality of which Mr. W. G.
Rawlinson comments unfavourably, and it must be
admitted that his plates, after he adopted the mixed
method of engraving, are poor in quality. Judged,
however, by his Raeburn plates, and a few others,
Hodgetts has substantial claims to consideration as an
engraver of ability. In the Macdonell of Glengarry he
has a magnificent subject. It is one of the most striking
and picturesque of Raeburn’s portraits, and is selected
by the late Dr. W. D. Mackay for careful and appre-
ciative analysis. The Colonel lived in feudal style,
wore the garb of chieftain of his Clan, and was both a
fighter and a sportsman. He was a friend of Scott,

150