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WILLIAM HOGARTH (1697–1764)

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 569 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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WILLIAM See also:HOGARTH (1697–1764)  , the See also:great See also:English painter and pictorial satirist, was See also:born at See also:Bartholomew See also:Close in See also:London on the loth of See also:November 1697, and baptized on the 28th in the See also:church of St Bartholomew the Great . He had two younger sisters, See also:Mary, born in 1699, and See also:Ann, born in 1701 . His See also:father, See also:Richard See also:Hogarth, who died in 1718, was a school-See also:master and See also:literary hack, who had come to the See also:metropolis to seek that See also:fortune which had been denied to him in his native See also:Westmorland . The son seems to have been See also:early distinguished by a See also:talent for See also:drawing and an active perceptive See also:faculty rather than by any close See also:attention to the learning which he was soon shrewd enough to see had not made his See also:parent prosper . " Shows of all sorts gave me uncommon See also:pleasure when an See also:infant," he says, " and See also:mimicry, See also:common to all See also:children, was remarkable in me . . . . My exercises when at school were more remarkable for the ornaments which adorned them than for the exercise itself." This being the See also:case, it is no wonder that, by his own See also:desire, he was apprenticed to a See also:silver-See also:plate engraver, Mr See also:Ellis Gamble, at the sign of the " See also:Golden See also:Angel " in Cranbourne See also:Street or See also:Alley, See also:Leicester See also:Fields . For this master he engraved a See also:shop-card which is still extant . When his See also:apprenticeship began is not recorded; but it must have been concluded before the beginning of 1720, for in See also:April of that See also:year he appears to have set up as engraver on his own See also:account . His desires, however, were not limited to silver-plate See also:engraving . " Engraving on See also:copper was, at twenty years of See also:age, my utmost ambition." For this he lacked the needful skill as a draughtsman; and his account of the means which he took to See also:supply this want, without too much interfering with his pleasure, is thoroughly characteristic, though it can scarcely be recommended as an example . " Laying it down," he says," first as an See also:axiom, that he who could by any means acquire and retain in his memory, perfect ideas of the subjects he meant to draw, would have as clear a knowledge of the figure as a See also:man who can write freely See also:bath of the twenty-four letters of the See also:alphabet and their infinitecombinations (each of these being composed of lines), and would consequently be an accurate designer, .

. . I therefore endeavoured to habituate myself to the exercise of a sort of technical memory, and by repeating in my own mind, the parts of which See also:

objects were composed, I could by degrees combine and put them down with my See also:pencil." This account, it is possible, has something of the complacency of the old age in which it was written; but there is little doubt that his marvellous See also:power of seizing expression owed less to patient academical study than to his unexampled See also:eye-memory and tenacity of See also:minor detail . But he was not entirely without technical training, since, by his own showing, he occasionally " took the See also:life " to correct his memories, and is known to have studied at See also:Sir See also:James See also:Thornhill's then recently opened See also:art school . " His first employment " (i.e. after he set up for himself) " seems," says See also:John See also:Nichols, in his Anecdotes, " to have been the engraving of arms and shop bills." After this he was employed in designing "plates for booksellers." Of these early and mostly insignificant See also:works we may pass over " The Lottery, an Emblematic See also:Print on the See also:South See also:Sea See also:Scheme," and some See also:book illustrations, to pause at " Masquerades and Operas " (1724), the first plate he published on his own account . This is a See also:clever little See also:satire on contemporary follies, such as the masquerades of the Swiss adventurer See also:Heidegger, the popular See also:Italian See also:opera-singers, See also:Rich's pantomimes at See also:Lincoln's See also:Inn Fields, and last, but by no means least, the exaggerated popularity of See also:Lord See also:Burlington's protege, the architect painter See also:William See also:Kent, who is here represented on the See also:summit of Burlington See also:Gate, with See also:Raphael and See also:Michelangelo for supporters . This worthy, Hogarth had doubtless not learned to despise less in the school of his See also:rival Sir James Thornhill . Indeed almost the next of Hogarth's important prints was aimed at Kent alone, being that memorable See also:burlesque of the unfortunate altarpiece designed by the latter for St See also:Clement Danes, which, in deference to the ridicule of the parishioners, See also:Bishop See also:Gibson took down in 1725 . Hogarth's See also:squib, which appeared subsequently, exhibits it as a very masterpiece of confusion and See also:bad drawing . In 1726 he prepared twelve large engravings for See also:Butler's Hudibras . These he himself valued highly, and they are the best of his book illustrations . But he was far too individual to be the patient interpreter of other men's thoughts, and it is not in this direction that his successes are to be sought . To 1727–1728 belongs one of those rare occurrences which have survived as contributions to his See also:biography .

He was engaged by See also:

Joshua See also:Morris, a See also:tapestry worker, to prepare a See also:design for the " See also:Element of See also:Earth." Morris, however, having heard that he was " an engraver, and no painter," declined the See also:work when completed, and Hogarth accordingly sued him for the See also:money in the See also:Westminster See also:Court, where, on the 28th of May 1728, the case was decided in his (Hogarth's) favour . It may have been the aspersion thus early See also:cast on his skill as a painter (coupled perhaps with the unsatisfactory See also:state of print-selling, owing to the uncontrolled circulation of piratical copies) that induced him about this See also:time to turn his attention to the See also:production of " small conversation pieces" (i.e. See also:groups in oil of full-length portraits from 12 to 15 in. high), many of which are still preserved in different collections . " This," he says, " having novelty, succeeded for a few years." Among his other efforts in oil between 1728 and 1732 were " The See also:Wanstead Conversation," "The See also:House of See also:Commons examining Bambridge," an infamous See also:warden of the See also:Fleet, and several pictures of the See also:chief actors in See also:Gay's popular See also:Beggar's Opera . On the 23rd of See also:March 1729 he was married at old See also:Paddington church to Jane Thornhill, the only daughter of Kent's rival above mentioned . The match was a clandestine one, although See also:Lady Thornhill appears to have favoured it . We next hear of him in " lodgings at South See also:Lambeth," where he rendered some assistance to the then well-known See also:Jonathan Tyers, who opened See also:Vauxhall in 1732 with an entertainment styled a ridotto al See also:fresco . For these gardens Hogarth painted a poor picture of See also:Henry VIII. and See also:Anne See also:Boleyn, and he also permitted Hayman to make copies of the later See also:series of the " Four Times of the See also:Day." In return, the grateful Tyers presented him with a See also:gold pass See also:ticket " In perpetuam Beneficii Memoriam." It was See also:long thought that Hogarth designed this himself . Mr See also:Warwick Wroth (Numismatic See also:Chronicle, vol. xviii.) doubts this, although he thinks it probable that Hogarth designed some of the silver Vauxhall passes which are figured in See also:Wilkinson's Londina illustrate . The only engravings between 1726 and 1732 which need be referred to are the " Large Masquerade Ticket " (1727), another satire on masquerades, and the print of " Burlington Gate " (1931), evoked by See also:Pope's See also:Epistle to Lord Burlington, and defending Lord See also:Chandos, who is therein satirized . This print gave great offence, and was, it is said, suppressed . By 1731 Hogarth must have completed the earliest of the series of moral works which first gave him his position as a great and See also:original See also:genius . This was " A Harlot's Progress," the paintings for which, if we may See also:trust the date in the last of the pictures, were finished in that year .

Almost immediately after-wards he must have begun to engrave them—a task he had at first intended to leave to others . From an See also:

advertisement in the See also:Country See also:Journal; or, the Craftsman, 29th of See also:January 1732, the pictures were then being engraved, and from later announcements it seems clear that they were delivered to the subscribers early in the following April, on the 21st of which See also:month an unauthorized See also:prose description of them was published . We have no See also:record of the particular See also:train of thought which prompted these See also:story-pictures; but it may perhaps be fairly assumed that the See also:necessity for creating some See also:link of See also:interest between the personages of the little " conversation pieces" above referred to, led to the further See also:idea of connecting several groups or scenes so as to See also:form a sequent narrative . " I wished," says Hogarth, " to compose pictures on See also:canvas, similar to representations on the See also:stage . " " 1 have endeavoured," he says again, "to treat my subject as a dramatic writer; my picture is my stage, and men and See also:women my players, who by means of certain actions and gestures are to exhibit a dumb show." There was never a more eloquent dumb show than this of the " Harlot's Progress." In six scenes the miserable career of a woman of the See also:town is traced out remorselessly from its first facile beginning to its shameful and degraded end . Nothing of the detail is softened or See also:abated; the whole is acted out See also:coram populo, with the hard, uncompassionate morality of the age the painter lived in, while the introduction here and there of one or two well-known characters such as See also:Colonel Charteris and See also:Justice Gonson give a vivid reality to the satire . It had an immediate success . To say nothing of the fact that the talent of the paintings completely reconciled Sir James Thornhill to the son-in-See also:law he had hitherto refused to acknowledge, more than twelve See also:hundred names of subscribers to the engravings were entered in the artist's book . On the See also:appearance of plate iii. the lords of the See also:treasury trooped to the print shop for Sir John Gonson's portrait which it contained . The story was made into a See also:pantomime by See also:Theophilus See also:Cibber, and by some one else into a ballad opera; and it gave rise to numerous See also:pamphlets and poems . It was painted on See also:fan-mounts and transferred to cups and saucers . Lastly, it was freely pirated .

There could be no surer testimony to its popularity . From the See also:

MSS. of See also:George See also:Vertue in the See also:British Museum (Add . MSS . 23069-98) it seems that during the progress of the plates . Hogarth was domiciled with his father-in-law, Sir James Thornhill, in the See also:Middle Piazza, Covent See also:Garden (the " second house eastward from James Street "), and it must have been thence that set out the See also:historical expedition from London to See also:Sheerness of which the original record still exists at the British Museum . This is an oblong MS. See also:volume entitled An Account of what seem'd most Remarkable in the Five Days' Peregrination of the Five Following Persons, vizt., Messieurs Tothall, See also:Scott, Hogarth, Thornhill and See also:Forrest . Begun on Saturday May 27th 1732 and Finish'd On the 31st of the Same Month . Abi to et fac similiter . Inscription on See also:Dulwich See also:College See also:Porch . The journal, which is written by Ebenezer, the father of See also:Garrick's friend See also:Theodosius Forrest, gives a See also:good idea of what a " frisk "—as See also:Johnson called it—was in those days, while the illustrations were by Hogarth and See also:Samuel Scott the landscape painter.John Thornhill, Sir James's son, made the See also:map . This version (in prose) was subsequently run into See also:rhyme by one of Hogarth's See also:friends, the Rev . Wm .

Gostling of See also:

Canterbury, and after the artist's See also:death both versions were published . In the See also:absence of other See also:biographical detail, they are of considerable interest to the student of Hogarth . In 1733 Hogarth moved into the " Golden See also:Head " in Leicester Fields, ,which, with occasional absences at See also:Chiswick, he continued to occupy until his death . By See also:December of this year he was already engaged upon the engravings of a second Progress, that of a See also:Rake . It was not as successful as its predecessor . It was in eight plates in lieu of six . The story is unequal; but there is nothing finer than the figure of the desperate See also:hero in the Covent Garden gaming-house, or the admirable scenes in the Fleet See also:prison and See also:Bedlam, where at last his headlong career comes to its tragic termination . The plates abound with allusive See also:suggestion and covert See also:humour; but it is impossible to See also:attempt any detailed description of them here . " A Rake's Progress " was dated See also:June 25, 1735, and the engravings See also:bear the words " according to See also:Act of See also:Parliament." This was an act (8 Geo . II. cap . 13) which Hogarth had been instrumental in obtaining from the legislature, being stirred thereto by the shameless piracies of rival printsellers . Although loosely See also:drawn, it served its purpose; and the painter commemorated his success by a long inscription on the plate entitled " Crowns, Mitres, &c.," afterwards used as asubscription ticket to the See also:Election series .

Phoenix-squares

These subscription tickets to his engravings, let us add, are among the brightest and most vivacious of the artist's productions . That to the " Harlot's Progress " was entitled "Boys peeping at Nature," while the Rake's Progress was heralded by the delightful See also:

etching known as " A Pleased See also:Audience at a See also:Play, or The Laughing Audience." We must pass more briefly over the prints which followed the two Progresses, noting first " A See also:Modern Midnight Conversation," an admirable drinking See also:scene which comes between them in 1733, and the See also:bright little plate of " See also:Southwark See also:Fair," which, although dated 1733, was published with " A Rake's Progress " in 1735 . Between these and " See also:Marriage d la mode," upon the pictures of which the painter must have been not long after at work, come the small prints of the " Consultation of Physicians " and " Sleeping See also:Congregation" (1736), the "Scholars at a Lecture" (1737); the " Four Times of the Day " (1738), a series of pictures of 18th See also:century life, the earlier designs for which have been already referred to; the " Strolling Actresses dressing in a See also:Barn" (1938), which See also:Walpole held to be, " for wit and See also:imagination, without any other end, the best of all the painter's works "; and finally the admirable plates of the Distrest Poet painfully composing a poem on " Riches " in a See also:garret, and the Enraged Musician fulminating from his parlour window upon a discordant See also:orchestra of See also:knife-grinders, See also:milk-girls, ballad-singers and the See also:rest upon the See also:pavement outside . These are dated respectively 1736 and 1741 . To this See also:period also (i.e. the period preceding the production of the plates of " Marriage a is mode ") belong two of those See also:history pictures to which, in emulation of the Haymans and Thornhills, the artist was continually attracted . " The See also:Pool of See also:Bethesda" and the " Good Samaritan," " with figures seven feet high," were painted circa 1736, and presented by the artist to St Bartholomew's See also:Hospital. where they remain . They were not masterpieces; and it is pleasanter to think of his connexion with See also:Captain Coram's recently established Foundling Hospital (1739), which he aided with his money, his graver and his See also:brush, and for which he painted that admirable portrait of the good old philanthropist which is still, and deservedly, one of its chief ornaments . In " A Harlot's Progress " Hogarth had not strayed much beyond the See also:lower walks of society, and although, in "A Rake's Progress," his hero was taken from the middle classes, he can scarcely be said to have quitted those fields of observation which are common to every spectator . It is therefore more remarkable, looking to his See also:education and antecedents, that his masterpiece, " Marriage d la mode," should successfully depict, as the advertisement has it, " a variety of modern occurrences in high life." Yet, as an accurate delineation of upper class 18th century society, his " Marriage d la mode" has never, we believe, been seriously assailed . The countess's bedroom, the See also:earl's apartment with its lavish coronets and old masters, the See also:grand See also:saloon with its See also:marble pillars and See also:grotesque ornaments, are fully as true to nature as the frowsy chamber in the " Turk's Head Bagnio," the See also:quack-See also:doctor's museum in St See also:Martin's See also:Lane, or the mean opulence of the See also:merchant's house in the See also:city . And what story could be more vividly, more perspicuously, more powerfully told than this godless See also:alliance of sacs et parchemins—this miserable tragedy of an See also:ill-assorted marriage ? There is no defect of invention, no superfluity of detail, no purposeless stroke .

It has the merit of a work by a great master of fiction, with the additional advantages which result from the pictorial See also:

fashion of the narrative; and it is See also:matter for congratulation that it is still to be seen by all the See also:world in the See also:National See also:Gallery in London, where it can tell its own See also:tale better than pages of commentary .. The engravings of " Marriage a la mode " were dated April 1745 . Although by this time the painter found a ready See also:market for his engravings, he does not appear to have been equally successful in selling his pictures . The See also:people bought his prints; but the richer and not numerous connoisseurs who See also:purchased pictures were wholly in the hands of the importers and manufacturers of "old masters." In See also:February 1745 the original oil paintings of the two Progresses, the " Four Times of the Day " and the " Strolling Actresses " were still unsold . On the last day of that month Hogarth disposed of them by an ill-devised See also:kind of See also:auction, the details of which may be read in Nichols's Anecdotes, for the paltry sum of 427,7S . No better See also:fate attended " Marriage a la mode," which six years later became the See also:property of Mr Lane of Hillingdon for 120 guineas, being then in Carlo Maratti frames which had cost the artist four guineas a piece . Something of this was no doubt due to Hogarth's impracticable arrangements, but the fact shows conclusively how completely See also:blind his See also:con-temporaries were to his merits as a painter, and how hopelessly in bondage to the all-powerful picture-dealers . Of these latter the painter himself gave a graphic picture in a See also:letter addressed by him under the See also:pseudonym of " Britophil " to the St James's Evening See also:Post, in June 1737 . But if Hogarth was not successful with his dramas on canvas, he occasionally shared with his contemporaries in the popularity of portrait See also:painting . For a picture, executed in 1746, of Garrick as Richard III. he was paid £zoo, " which was more," says he, " than any English artist ever received for a single portrait." In the same year a See also:sketch of See also:Simon See also:Fraser, Lord See also:Lovat, after-wards beheaded on See also:Tower See also:Hill, had an exceptional success . We must content ourselves with a brief enumeration of the most important of his remaining works . These are " The Stage See also:Coach or Country Inn Yard" (1747); the series of twelve plates entitled " See also:Industry and Idleness " (1747), depicting the career of two London apprentices; the " Gate of See also:Calais " (1749), which had its origin in a rather unfortunate visit paid to See also:France by the painter after the See also:peace of See also:Aix-la-Chapelle; the " March to See also:Finchley " (175o); " See also:Beer Street," " See also:Gin Lane" and the "Four Stages of See also:Cruelty " (1751); the admirable representations of election humours in the days of Sir See also:Robert Walpole, entitled " Four Prints of an Election " (1755–1758); and the plate of " Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism, a Medley " (1762), adapted from an earlier unpublished design called " See also:Enthusiasm Delineated." Besides these must be chronicled three more essays in the " great See also:style of history painting," viz .

" See also:

Paul before See also:Felix," "See also:Moses brought to See also:Pharaoh's Daughter " and the Altarpiece for St Mary Redcliffe at See also:Bristol . The first two were engraved in 175I-1752, the last in 1794 . A subscription ticket to the earlier pictures, entitled " Paul before Felix Burlesqued," had a popularity far greater than that of the prints themselves . In 1745 Hogarth painted that admirable portrait of himself with his See also:dog See also:Trump, which is now in the National Gallery . In a corner of this he had drawn on a See also:palette a See also:serpentine See also:curve with the words " The See also: