Hogarth, William

Hogarth, William, 1697–1764, English painter, satirist, engraver, and art theorist, b. London. At the age of 15 he was apprenticed to a silver-plate engraver. He soon made engravings on copper for bookplates and illustrations—notably those for Butler's Hudibras (1726). He studied drawing with Thornhill, whose daughter he married in 1729. Hogarth tried to earn a living with small portraits and portrait groups, but his first real success came in 1732 with a series of six morality pictures, The Harlot's Progress. He first painted, then engraved them, selling subscriptions for the prints, which had great popularity. The Rake's Progress, a similar series, appeared in 1735. The series Marriage à la Mode (1745) is often considered his masterpiece. With a wealth of detail and brilliant characterization he depicts the profligate and inane existence of a fashionable young couple. Hogarth invented a sort of visual shorthand that enabled him to recall with perfect clarity whatever sight he wished to retain. He became, by this means, an enormously learned artist possessing a profound visual understanding. His Analysis of Beauty (1753) is a brilliant formal exposition of the rococo aesthetic. In such prints as Gin Lane and Four Stages of Cruelty Hogarth is very sincerely didactic, employing the weapons of satire against the cruelty, stupidity, and bombast that he observed in all levels of the society of his day. His portraits The Shrimp Girl (National Gall., London) and Captain Coram (1740) are two of the masterpieces of British painting. Hogarth's major works are in England. In New York City the Metropolitan Museum and the Frick Collection possess examples of his work.

Bibliography

See his Analysis of Beauty, ed. by J. Burke (1955); his graphic works, ed. by R. Paulson (rev. ed. 1970); biographies by P. Quennell (1955), R. Paulson (1971), D. Bindman (1985), and J. Uglow (1997); studies by F. Antal (1962), G. C. Lichtenberg (tr. 1966), S. Shesgreen (1982), and L. S. Cowley (1988).

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Hogarth, William

The Painter and His Pug, self-portrait by William Hogarth, oil on …

(credit: Courtesy of the trustees of the Tate Gallery, London)

(born Nov. 10, 1697, London, Eng.—died Oct. 26, 1764, London) British painter and engraver. Apprenticed at 15 to a silversmith, he opened his own engraving and printing shop at 22. He took private drawing lessons while earning a living as an engraver of book illustrations. His first major work, the satirical engraving Masquerades and Operas, attacked contemporary taste and questioned the art establishment, thus winning him many enemies. In 1728 he embarked on a painting career with a work that reveals his interest in theatre and comic subject matter, A Scene from “The Beggar's Opera”; he also painted “conversation pieces” (informal group portraits) for wealthy clients. His engravings of modern morality subjects, often in sequential sets, were aimed at a wide public, and their outstanding success established his financial independence. To safeguard his livelihood against pirated editions, he fought for legislation protecting artists' copyright. Britain's first copyright act was passed in 1735, the year he published his satirical eight-part series The Rake's Progress. His other satirical series include A Harlot's Progress (1730–31) and Marriage à la Mode (1743–45). The teaching academy he established led to the founding of the Royal Academy (1768).

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Hogarth, William 

Born Nov. 10, 1697, in London; died there Oct. 25, 1764. British painter, graphic artist, and art theorist.

Hogarth studied with the silversmith E. Gamble and at J. Thornhill’s academy (from 1720) in London. He worked in London and visited France in 1743 and 1748. Hogarth first gained fame from his satirical paintings and copper engravings, in which, in the spirit of the European Enlightenment, he ruthlessly exposed the evils of British life. Examples of such works are the six pictures of A Harlot’s Progress (1730–31, not preserved; engraved in 1732), the eight pictures of A Rake’s Progress (1732–35, Sir John Soane’s museum, London; engraved 1735), the six pictures of Marriage à la Mode (1743–45, National Gallery, London; engraved 1745), and the engravings Gin Lane (1751) and Beer Street (1751).

Hogarth’s portraits are marked by a democratic quality, sharp lifelike characterizations, and a full-blooded realistic technique. Examples are Captain Thomas Coram (1740, Foundling Hospital, London), Self-portrait (1745, Tate Gallery, London), and The Shrimp Girl (c. 1760, National Gallery, London).

In the theoretical treatise Analysis of Beauty (1753), Hogarth called for the use of asymmetric forms (for example, serpentine lines) that would allow life to be reproduced in the diversity of its manifestations. Hogarth’s theories and art greatly influenced 18th-century European culture. The artist’s influence is reflected in the work of L. Sterne in Great Britain and G. E. Lessing and G. C. Lichtenberg in Germany.

WORKS

In Russian translation:
Analiz krasoty. Leningrad-Moscow, 1958.

REFERENCES

Krol’, A. E. U. Khogart. [Moscow-Leningrad, 1965.]
German, M. Iu. Khogart. Moscow, 1971.
Paulson, R. Hogarth: His Life, Art, and Times, vols. 1–2. New Haven-London, 1971.