Thomas Christopher Hofland

Thomas Christopher Hofland (1777–1843) was an English artist and teacher.

Biography Hofland was born in Worksop and he became a student of John Rathbone. He started teaching at Kew and moved to Derby in 1805, where he worked until 1808. He became the second husband of the successful writer Barbara Hofland in 1810. Hofland exhibited 72 paintings at the Royal Academy but the main source of their income was his wife's writing. He was a founder member of the Society of British Artists where he exhibited over 100 paintings. It was said that he helped found the Society, because he had not been made a member of the Royal Academy. In 1819 Hofland illustrated a book written by his wife about the Duke of Marlborough's house.

Hofland was a keen angler which he would combine with his skill for landscape painting.

Hofland's book describes various counties but Hampshire and Derbyshire are selected for special mention. He lists the rivers of Derbyshire, covering the Erwash (sic) in a few sentences. The River Dove (that inspired Isaac Walton's famous book) and then page after page of Dovedale where he had spent many days sketching and angling in the company of fellow artists like Ebenezer Rhodes from Sheffield.

Hofland's painting Moonlight inspired a poem of Letitia Elizabeth Landon published in The Literary Gazette (1824).

Publications A descriptive account of the mansion and gardens of White-Knights: a seat of His Grace the Duke of Marlborough. By Mrs. Hofland. Illustrated with twenty-three engravings, from pictures taken on the spot by T.C. Hofland 1819