lithographer, printer, frame-maker and fine arts dealer, arrived at Hobart Town in the Warrior on 27 June 1833. He was accompanied by his wife Sarah née Lloyd, his 14-year-old stepson Richard Lloyd, and his 5-year-old son Robin Lloyd. On his arrival he gave his occupation as carpenter, but he soon abandoned general carpentry for the specialist trades of carver, gilder and frame-maker. His first known address was 1 Murray Street ('near St David’s Church’) in 1836. He moved to 108 Elizabeth Street in March 1838, then to a 'weatherboarded house’ in New Town Road which was destroyed by fire in November 1840. The following year he built a shop and residence at 34 Liverpool Street which he called Somerset House.
Following the success of the art exhibition organised by John Skinner Prout and others at the Legislative Council Chambers on 6 January 1845, Hood built a gallery adjacent to his Liverpool Street premises. In February 1846 he advertised that the gallery was ready, and the committee held its second exhibition there on 24 May. Hood’s gallery became the focus for the exhibition and sale of fine arts in Hobart exhibiting, among others, the works of painters such as John Glover and Thomas Wainewright and, later, Haughton Forrest . When Prout left for London in April 1848 Hood bought his lithographic equipment and began a new career as lithographer and printer. Clifford Craig has noted that all known Hood prints were published after the purchase of Prout’s press. The earliest are probably a series of whaling prints drawn on the stone by William Duke and published by Hood in September 1848.
Hood showed picture frames at London’s Great Exhibition in 1851 and in Paris in 1855. Yet he apparently intended his career to be short for in February 1851 he retired in favour of his son, Robin Lloyd Hood (1828-1916), who became a well-known printer and frame-maker in his own right. Despite this public withdrawal, however, Hood seems to have continued lithographic printing from his residence at Fitzroy Place, publishing lithographs by Frank Dunnet in November 1858 and Henry D’Emden in 1861, as well as exhibiting picture frames. He seems to have retained the ownership of the Somerset House premises as well. In February 1862 he advertised that the property, including the exhibition room, was for sale. The previous August he had turned the 'large and commodious premises’ at 56 Liverpool Street into the 'City Restaurant’, which offered both food and accommodation. The printing business, then trading as R.L. Hood & Brother, was next door.
Robin Vaughan Hood died at Hobart in 1888, his wife having predeceased him in 1857. No original artwork by Hood is known and drawing onto the stone was apparently always the work of others. Nevertheless, there are sufficient Hood lithographs, otherwise unacknowledged, to suggest that he may sometimes have performed this task himself. In any event, as lithographic printer and fine arts entrepreneur, he was an integral part of Hobart’s cultural life.
- Writers:
- Staff Writer
Note:
- Date written:
- 1992
- Last updated:
- 2011
