Hogarth

 Hogarth Prints -- All images on this page are Public Domain from https://www.metmuseum.org/

The Wedding of Stephen and Mary Cox, 1729

This depiction of a wedding is one of the artist's first essays in the fashionable genre of the conversation piece, a type of group portrait. Beckingham, a London lawyer, and his bride are flanked by members of their families. The setting is based on the church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square, not the actual church where the wedding took place. Although Hogarth was sought after for his ability to capture a likeness, the solemn event depicted here seems to have had limited appeal to him compared with the satire of his famous “modern moral subjects.”

1761 Periwig

Hogarth here applied the terminology of classical architecture to men’s wigs to satirize the divisions of British society. With mock seriousness, he arranged wig types in rows as though in an architectural treatise. Echoing the names of column capitals he labeled his specimens "Episcopal," "Old Peerian," "Aldermanic," "Lexonic," and "Queerinthian." The humor was inspired by a pompous advertisement for James Stuart’s and Nicholas Revett’s forthcoming book The Antiquities of Athens. Hogarth’s focus on the "orders" of British society had been sharpened by the September 1761 coronation of King George III and Queen Charlotte. A row of female heads at the bottom of the print refers to that event, with the queen shown at left. Her companions are differentiated not by their hairstyles, but by their coronets which identify them in descending rank as princess, duchess, countess, vis-countess and baroness.

A Midnight Conversation 1732

Hogarth applies an ironic title to this representation of men drinking in a panelled room perhaps intended for St. John's Coffee-house, Temple Bar, London. The clock indicates four in the morning and eleven men are shown around a table in different stages of drunkeness, having gathered at midnight. A punchbowl decorated with Chinese figures appears at the center of the table, ande empty bottles piled on the floor and mantelpiece testify to many rounds of punch consumed, as does the overflowing chamber pot at lower right. Britain at this period followed the Julian calendar, according to which New Year's fell on March 25th. So, while Hogarth's print was published on March 1, 1732 under that system, today it is considered to have been issued in 1733 (the Gregorian calendar, which treats calculates the turn of the year on January 1st was adopted in 1752).

William Hogarth 1764 [Self Portrait]

Southwark Fair 1734

Masquerades and Operas 1724