Portrait of a Girl, half-length, turned to the left, wearing a white dress

Born into an artistic family (his father was a miniaturist) in London, Hodges entered the Royal Academy Schools at the age of seventeen. After getting married in 1784, Hodges visited Holland with the artist and art dealer William Humphrey in 1788. He moved to The Hague in 1792, still acting as Humphrey's agent. In 1797 he moved to Amsterdam, enjoying a very successful career as portraitist in both oil and pastel, meanwhile continuing to work as an important art dealer. His clients included the Dutch royal family and nobility. With the installation of Louis Napoleon in Holland in 1806 Amsterdam became the capital of Holland and thus caused the market for Hodges's portraits to flourish even more. This allowed him a rich life style and enabled him to become a collector himself.
His work in pastel especially was much influenced by the German artist Tischbein, who himself worked in Holland regularly. He was forced to stop working by failing eyesight and rheumatism in 1836.
This portrait and those in the following two lots are typical examples of the artist's work. Van der Feltz (loc. cit.) dates the present lot to circa 1795-6.