G. P. Jacomb Hood

George Percy Jacomb-Hood (1857-1929) was a British painter, etcher, and illustrator. He was born 6 July 1857 in Redhill, Surrey. Jacomb-Hood attended the Tonbridge School and the Slade School where he was awarded the Poynter Prize. He also studied under J. P. Laurens in Paris. In addition to portrait paintings Jacomb-Hood was a prolific book and periodical illustrator. He worked for The Illustrated London News, Black & White, Daily Chronicle, and The Quarto. Between 1896 and 1911 Jacomb-Hood worked almost exclusively for The Graphic as a travel illustrator in Greece, 1896, and in India during the Prince of Wales’s tour, 1905-1906. Jacomb-Hood also travelled to Holland during the Second Anglo-Boer War to conduct research for Haggard's Lysbeth, A Tale of The Dutch, published in The Graphic between 1 September 1900 and March 1901. Like Haggard, he supported the English cause in South Africa but most people he encountered in the Netherlands felt differently. In his autobiography With Brush and Pencil (1925) Jacomb-Hood describes Holland as, "not a comfortable country for an Englishman" at this time (139). He recalls, "I had to pocket some insults and to shut my eyes to horrible cartoons and postcards in the shop windows, of our poor Queen suffering all sorts of indignities, and of the British lion, bandaged and patched, and looking very sorry for himself" (139). He exhibited at the Royal Academy, New English Art Club, Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Society of Painters & Etchers, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, and Grosvenor Gallery. Jacomb-Hood was a member of Royal Society of British Artists, Royal Society of Painter-Etchers and Engravers, the Society of Portrait Painters, Royal Institute of Oil Painters, Royal British Colonial Society of Artists, the Chelsea Arts Club, and New English Art Club. He was elected MVO in 1912. Jacomb-Hood married the daughter of baron de Hochepied Larpent in 1910. He died in London 11 December 1929.

Further Reading

Blackett-Ord, Carol. "George Percy Jacomb-Hood." National Portrait Gallery. Web. 16 Oct. 2013.

Houfe, Simon. “Hood, George Percy Jacomb- MVO 1857-1929.” The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914. Woodbridge, Suffolk: Antique Collectors’ Club, 1981. 343. Print.

Jacomb-Hood, G. P.. With Brush and Pencil. London: John Murray, 1925. Print.

Waters, Grant M.. “Jacomb-Hood, George Percy, R.B.A., R.E., R.O.I., R.B.C., N.E.A.C. (1857–1929).” Dictionary of British Artists Working 1900- 1950. Eastbourne: Eastbourne Fine Art, 1975. 179. Print.