George Percy Jacomb-Hood (6 July 1857 – 11 December 1929) was a painter, etcher and illustrator. He was a founding member of the

New English Art Club The New English Art Club (NEAC) was founded in London in 1885 as an alternative venue to the Royal Academy. It continues to hold an annual exhibition of paintings and drawings at the Mall Galleries in London, exhibiting works by both members and a ...

and Society of Portrait Painters.

Early life

Mrs Walter Frith, by George Percy Jacomb-Hood

Jacomb-Hood was born on 6 July 1857 at Redhill in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, the fourth of nine children (two of whom died in infancy) of Robert Jacomb-Hood (1822–1900) and Jane Stothard Littlewood (1827–1869). His grandfather, a yeoman farmer in Essex was born Robert Jacomb (1794–1857), but was a cousin of William Hood, the last male member of his family, who left his estate at

Bardon, Leicestershire Bardon is a civil parish and former village in North West Leicestershire about southeast of the centre of Coalville. The parish includes Bardon Hill, which at above sea level is the highest point in Leicestershire. With the population remaini ...

to him on condition that he took the additional surname of Hood, the estate having been in the Hood family since the 1620s. His father was Chief Engineer on the

London, Brighton and South Coast Railway The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR; known also as the Brighton line, the Brighton Railway or the Brighton) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1846 to 1922. Its territory formed a rough triangle, with London at its ...

from 1846–1860. Jacomb-Hood was educated at

Tonbridge School (God Giveth the Increase) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religion = , president = , head_label ...

and the

Slade School of Fine Art The UCL Slade School of Fine Art (informally The Slade) is the art school of University College London (UCL) and is based in London, England. It has been ranked as the UK's top art and design educational institution. The school is organised as ...

as well as studying while touring abroad in Paris and Madrid. He was a member of the

Royal Society of Painter-Etchers The Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers (RE), known until 1991 as the Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, is a leading art institution based in London, England. The Royal Society of Painter-Etchers, as it was originally styled, was ...

, the

Savile Club The Savile Club is a traditional London gentlemen's club founded in 1868. Located in fashionable and historically significant Mayfair, its membership, past and present, include many prominent names. Changing premises Initially calling itself th ...

, was Honorary Treasurer of the

Chelsea Arts Club The Chelsea Arts Club is a private members' club at 143 Old Church Street in Chelsea, London with a membership of over 3,800, including artists, sculptors, architects, writers, designers, actors, musicians, photographers, and filmmakers. The club ...

, member of the

and the

Royal Society of Portrait Painters The Royal Society of Portrait Painters is a charity based at Carlton House Terrace, SW1, London that promotes the practice and appreciation of portraiture. Its Annual Exhibition of portraiture is held at Mall Galleries, and it runs a commissio ...

. He exhibited at the first exhibition of the

Society of Graphic Art The Society of Graphic Art for Pornographique (renamed Society of Graphic Fine Art in 1984) is a British arts organisation established in 1999. History The Society of Graphic Art (SGA) was founded in 1999 by Frank Lewis Emanuel, whose idea it wa ...

in London in 1921.

Career

Jacomb-Hood regularly produced illustrations for ''

The Graphic ''The Graphic'' was a British weekly illustrated newspaper, first published on 4 December 1869 by William Luson Thomas's company Illustrated Newspapers Ltd. Thomas's brother Lewis Samuel Thomas was a co-founder. The premature death of the latt ...

'' who gave him a number of overseas assignments. In 1896 the magazine sent him to Greece and to Delhi in 1902. He accompanied the

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and

Princess of Wales Princess of Wales (Welsh: ''Tywysoges Cymru'') is a courtesy title used since the 14th century by the wife of the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. The current title-holder is Catherine (née Middleton). The title was firs ...

on their 1905 tour of India and was a member of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. Born duri ...

's personal staff on his 1911 tour of India. He also painted

Madeleine Shaw-Lefevre Madeleine Septimia Shaw Lefevre (6 May 1835 – 19 September 1914) was the Principal of Somerville Hall for its first 10 years, from 1879 to 1889. The hall became Somerville College, Oxford in 1894. Early life Shaw Lefevre was born in 1835, th ...

in her role as principal of

Somerville College, Oxford Somerville College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England, was founded in 1879 as Somerville Hall, one of its first two women's colleges. Among its alumnae have been Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Dorothy Hodgkin, Ir ...

. He wrote an autobiography in 1925, entitled ''With Brush and Pencil''.

Personal life

Jacomb-Hood married The Hon Henrietta Kemble de Hochepied-Larpent (1867–1941), daughter of

Arthur de Hochepied Larpent, 8th Baron de Hochepied Arthur John de Hochepied Larpent, 8th Baron de Hochepied (18 March 1832 – 24 August 1887) was an English judge and landowner of Huguenot and Dutch descent. The title Baron de Hochepied, in the nobility of the Kingdom of Hungary, had been granted ...

on 28 June 1910. On their marriage,

John Singer Sargent John Singer Sargent (; January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) was an American expatriate artist, considered the "leading portrait painter of his generation" for his evocations of Edwardian-era luxury. He created roughly 900 oil paintings and more ...

, a friend and neighbour of Jacomb-Hood's in Chelsea, gave them his watercolour ''Italian Sailing Vessels at Anchor'' (c 1904–07) inscribed "to my friend Jacomb Hood" and now at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

in Oxford, presented in 1943 by her sister and heiress. Italian Sailing Vessels at Anchor by John Singer Sargent, c

Known as Reta, her sister The Hon Sybil Marguerite Gonne de Hochepied-Larpent, OBE (1867–1941) married

Philip Napier Miles Philip Napier Miles JP DLitt ''h.c.'' (Bristol) (21 January 1865 – 19 July 1935) was a prominent and wealthy citizen of Bristol, UK, who left his mark on the city, especially on what are now its western suburbs, through his musical and organis ...

and Jacomb-Hood was a friend of his cousin

Frank Miles George Francis Miles (22 April 1852 – 15 July 1891) was a London-based British artist who specialised in pastel portraits of society ladies, also an architect and a keen plantsman. He was artist in chief to the magazine ''Life'', and between 1 ...

. Another sister, The Hon Clarissa Catherine de Hochepied-Larpent, married the soldier and artist Colonel Robert Charles Goff. The Jacomb-Hoods lived in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

after Frank Miles's death when Jacomb-Hood's father bought Miles's house in

Tite Street Tite Street is a street in Chelsea, London, England, within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, just north of the River Thames. It was laid out from 1877 by the Metropolitan Board of Works, giving access to the Chelsea Embankment. Hist ...

from his executors and also had a house in

Rye, East Sussex is a small town and civil parish in the Rother district of East Sussex, England, two miles from the sea at the confluence of three rivers: the Rother, the Tillingham and the Brede. An important member of the mediaeval Cinque Ports confederatio ...

. He died on 11 December 1929 at Philip Napier Miles's villa at

Alassio Alassio ( lij, Arasce) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Savona situated in the western coast of Liguria, Northern Italy, approximately from the French border. Alassio is known for its natural and scenic views. The town centre is cro ...

in Italy.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jacomb-Hood, George Percy 1857 births 1929 deaths Alumni of the Slade School of Fine Art British painters British male painters British etchers British illustrators People educated at Tonbridge School People from Surrey