Lodge was educated first at Leeds, then at Jesus College in Cambridge, then studied law at Lincoln's Inn.
He was a friend of the fellow engraver, Francis Place, and enjoyed an informal salon of intellectuals at York.
These included Dr. Martin Lister, Ralph Thoresby, and Henry Gyles the glass painter.
When he accompanied Thomas Belasyse, Earl of Fanconbery, on his embassy to Venice, he became acquainted with a picture book, Viaggio Pittoresco, by Giacomo Barri[2]).
The chapters were introduced by a vedute of a city or town of Italy, and followed by a series of engravings of famous paintings in that locus.