Loot, "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin", by John Evan Hodgson (1831-1895). 1878. Oil on canvas. 68 1/2 x 61 1/2 inches (174 x 156.2 cm). Collection of Dundee Art Galleries and Museums Collection, accession no. 42-1912. Image reproduced via Art UK for the purpose of non-commercial research. [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Hodgson exhibited this Orientalist work at the Royal Academy in 1878, no. 635. The line "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin" is a quotation from the third act of William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida where Ulysses is talking to Achilles. The words, as they relate to Hodgson's painting, imply that fundamental human weakness makes everyone alike throughout the world. The painting shows two Arab bandits in a stable, one seated on a box and the other kneeling on the floor. They are obviously successful thieves judging from their garments and their loot. The bandits are shown examining the booty they have collected including jewelry, fine fabrics, books, decorative objects like bowls, and weapons. The two men are currently admiring a fine miniature painting held in the left hand of the older of the two brigands. Both men are heavily armed. A beautiful black horse can be seen in a stall behind the men. Light and shade are skilfully handled in the darkened stable. The "loot" in the foreground is particularly well illuminated.
A closer view of the men's faces as they examine a specimen of the "loot."
A reviewer for The Magazine of Art appreciated the colour of this work: "Mr. Hodgson's Loot, of which we give an illustration on the opposite page, has the artist's usual extreme richness of colour, with that suggestion of humour which first delighted us all in his memorable Rusty Gun" (104). A wood engraving of the work was reproduced on page 105. A critic for The Illustrated London News felt this work showed improvement in Hodgson's design, colouring, and handling: "Mr. J. E. Hodgson, A.R.A., sends four pictures, all displaying conspicuous merit…the Turkish or Arab bandits dividing their plunder in Loot - "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin" (635) all exhibit marked improvement in design, colour, and handling. Mr. Hodgson has altogether got rid of the somewhat cumbrous style of execution in which he formerly indulged, and is yearly growing more facile and more symmetrical. His humour is as racy and as genial as ever" (458). The work was illustrated in Henry Blackburn's Academy Notes in 1878 (p. 59).
Bibliography
Blackburn, Henry. Academy Notes IV London: Chatto & Windus (May 1878).
Loot, "One touch of nature makes the whole world kin." Art UK. Web. 17 January 2024.
"The Royal Academy." The Illustrated London News LXXII (18 May 1878): 458-59.
"The Royal Academy." The Magazine of Art I (1878): 101-06.
Created 17 January 2024