William Hogarth
Born – London, England 1697
Died – London, England 1764
Hogarth’s work exemplifies the British taste for acerbic social satire. His painting offers valuable insights into eighteenth century English society. Hogarth was apprenticed in 1712 to an engraver working in the Rococo tradition and by 1720 was earning a living illustrating books. He studied painting in his spare time at the Academy in St Martin’s Lane, eager to develop an entrepreneurial market for contemporary art by British painters. He predicted correctly that popular taste would favour topical narratives that were as critical of vanity as immorality. His series of conversation pieces and sequences of anecdotal paintings were commonly available by the early 1730s and were reproduced as engravings, making them widely affordable. The Countess’ Morning Levée is the fifth of six scenes from Marriage á la Mode. This is a detail of the collapse of the penultimate tableau of unsavoury characters, each of whom plays a significant part in the significant part in the collapse of a marriage doomed from the start. Like a stage set, almost every detail has some direct or symbolic bearing on the plot, referring to social and moral indiscretion of the time. Hogarth’s keen observations also contributed to his success as a spontaneous and uncompromising portrait painter.
Masterpieces:
- The Graham Children
- A Rake’s Progress
Text: The A-Z of Art, Nicola Hodge and Libby Anson.
Books About william hogarth
Engravings by Hogarth (Dover Fine Art, History of Art)
William Hogarth
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Hogarth: A Life and a World
Jenny Uglow
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England in the Age of Hogarth
Derek Jarrett
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