Editing William Hogarth (section)

==Career==

{{See also|List of works by William Hogarth}}

By April 1720, Hogarth was an [[engraver]] in his own right, at first engraving coats of arms and shop bills and designing plates for booksellers.

In 1727, he was hired by Joshua Morris, a tapestry worker, to prepare a design for the ''Element of Earth''. Morris heard that he was "an engraver, and no painter", and consequently declined the work when completed. Hogarth accordingly sued him for the money in the Westminster Court, where the case was decided in his favour on 28 May 1728.<ref>Ronald Paulson, ''Hogarth, vol. 1: The 'Modern Moral Subject' '' (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1991), pp. 155-157.</ref>

===Early works===
[[File:William Hogarth - The South Sea Scheme.png|thumb|280px|right|''[[Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme]]'', 1721]]
[[File:HogarthWanstead.jpg|thumb|280px|right|''[[The Assembly at Wanstead House]]''. [[Richard Child, 1st Earl Tylney]] and family in foreground]]
Early satirical works included an ''[[Emblematical Print on the South Sea Scheme]]'' ({{Circa|1721}}, published 1724), about the disastrous stock market crash of 1720, known as the [[South Sea Bubble]], in which many English people lost a great deal of money. In the bottom left corner, he shows [[Protestant]], [[Catholic Church|Roman Catholic]], and [[Jewish]] figures gambling, while in the middle there is a huge machine, like a merry-go-round, which people are boarding. At the top is a goat, written below which is "Who'l Ride". The people are scattered around the picture with a [[willy-nilly (idiom)|sense of disorder]], while the progress of the well dressed people towards the ride in the middle shows the foolishness of the crowd in buying stock in the South Sea Company, which spent more time issuing stock than anything else.<ref>See Ronald Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'' (3rd edition, London 1989), no. 43. For more details, see David Dabydeen, ''Hogarth, Walpole and Commercial Britain'' (London 1987).</ref>

Other early works include [[The Lottery (1724)|''The Lottery'' (1724)]]; ''[[The Mystery of Masonry brought to Light by the Gormagons]]'' (1724);  ''[[A Just View of the British Stage]]'' (1724); some book illustrations; and the small print ''[[Masquerades and Operas]]'' (1724). The latter is a satire on contemporary follies, such as the [[masquerade ball|masquerades]] of the Swiss impresario [[John James Heidegger]], the popular Italian [[Opera|opera singers]], [[John Rich (producer)|John Rich]]'s pantomimes at [[Lincoln's Inn Fields]], and the exaggerated popularity of [[Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington|Lord Burlington]]'s protégé, the architect and painter [[William Kent]]. He continued that theme in 1727, with the ''[[Large Masquerade Ticket]]''.
[[File:William Hogarth - Self-Portrait - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|''Self-Portrait'' by Hogarth, ca. 1735, [[Yale Center for British Art]].]]
[[File:Hudibras Triumphant - William Hogarth - 50-1929-10.jpg|alt=An engraving depicting Hudibras overcoming a fiddle player and placing him in the stocks. Above the stocks, the  fiddle and its case are displayed.|thumb|[[Hudibras]] Triumphant, one of the twelve engravings illustrating the adventures of Hudibras, a bumbling adventurer from [[Samuel Butler (poet)|Samuel Butler]]'s mock-heroic poem.]]
In 1726, Hogarth prepared twelve large engravings illustrating [[Samuel Butler (1612–1680)|Samuel Butler]]'s ''[[Hudibras]]''.
These he himself valued highly, and they are among his best early works, though they are based on small book illustrations.

In the following years, he turned his attention to the production of small "[[Conversation piece (paintings)|conversation pieces]]" (i.e., groups in oil of full-length portraits from {{convert|12|to|15|in}} high. Among his efforts in oil between 1728 and 1732 were ''[[The Fountaine Family]]'' ({{Circa|1730}}), ''[[The Assembly at Wanstead House]]'', ''[[The House of Commons examining Bambridge]]'', and several pictures of the chief actors in [[John Gay]]'s popular ''[[The Beggar's Opera]]''.<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth'', vol. 1, pp. 172–185, 206–215.</ref><ref>Elizabeth Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press 2016), nos. 11, 20, 14, 13A–D.</ref> One of his real-life subjects was [[Sarah Malcolm]], whom he sketched two days before her execution.<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 68.</ref><ref>[http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/exhibition/hogarth/hogarth-room-guide-room-8 Sarah Malcolm], The Hogarth Room, The Tate, retrieved 7 August 2014</ref>

One of Hogarth's masterpieces of this period is the depiction of an amateur performance by children of [[John Dryden]]'s ''[[The Indian Emperour]] or The Conquest of Mexico by Spaniards, being the Sequel of The Indian Queen]]'' (1732–1735) at the home of [[John Conduitt]], master of the mint, in St George's Street, [[Hanover Square, Westminster|Hanover Square]].<ref>Ronald Paulson, ''Hogarth'', vol. 2 (New Brunswick 1992), pp. 1–4.</ref><ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 63.</ref>

Hogarth's other works in the 1730s include ''[[A Midnight Modern Conversation]]'' (1733),<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, no. 128.</ref> ''[[Southwark Fair]]'' (1733),<ref>[http://www.william-hogarth.de/Southwark.html Benjamin N. Ungar, "Take Me to the Southwark Fair: William Hogarth's Snapshot of the Life and Times of England's Migrating Early 18th Century Poor"].</ref> ''[[The Sleeping Congregation]]'' (1736),<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00008020 | doi=10.11588/artdok.00008020 | year=2022 | last1=Krysmanski | first1=Bernd | title=Lust in Hogarth's 'Sleeping Congregation' : or, how to waste time in post-Puritan England | journal=Art History | volume=21 | issue=3 | pages=393–408 }}</ref> [[Before and After (Hogarth)|''Before'' and ''After'']] (1736), ''[[Scholars at a Lecture]]'' (1736), ''[[The Company of Undertakers]]'' (1736), ''[[The Distrest Poet]]'' (1736), ''[[The Four Times of the Day]]'' (1738),<ref>Sean Shesgreen, ''Hogarth and the Times-of-the-Day Tradition'' (Ithaca, New York: Cornell UP, 1983).</ref> and ''[[Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn]]'' (1738).<ref>Christina H. Kiaer, "Professional Femininity in Hogarth's ''Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn''," ''Art History'', 16, No. 2 (June 1993), pp. 239-65.</ref> He may also have printed ''Burlington Gate'' (1731), evoked by [[Alexander Pope]]'s Epistle to [[Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington|Lord Burlington]], and defending [[James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos]], who is therein satirized. This print gave great offence, and was suppressed. However, modern authorities such as [[Ronald Paulson]] no longer attribute it to Hogarth.<ref>See Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, p. 35.</ref>

===Moralizing art===

====''Harlot's Progress'' and ''Rake's Progress''====
[[File:The Rake's Progress 8.jpg|thumb|''[[A Rake's Progress]]'', Plate 8, 1735, and retouched by Hogarth in 1763 by adding the Britannia emblem<ref>[[#JBN1833|J. B. Nichols, 1833]] [https://archive.org/details/anecdoteswillia01hogagoog/page/n237 p.192] "PLATE VIII. ... Britannia 1763"</ref><ref>[[#JBN1833|J. B. Nichols, 1833]] [https://archive.org/details/anecdoteswillia01hogagoog/page/n238 p.193] "Retouched by the Author, 1763"</ref>]]

In 1731, Hogarth completed the earliest of his series of moral works, a body of work that led to wide recognition. The collection of six scenes was entitled ''[[A Harlot's Progress]]'' and appeared first as paintings (now lost)<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', nos. 21–26.</ref> before being published as engravings.<ref>Ronald Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition (London: The Print Room 1989), nos. 121–126.</ref> ''A Harlot's Progress'' depicts the fate of a country girl who begins prostituting&nbsp;– the six scenes are chronological, starting with a meeting with a [[Madam (prostitution)|bawd]] and ending with a funeral ceremony that follows the character's death from [[venereal disease]].<ref>Cruickshank, Dan (2010). ''London's Sinful Secret: The Bawdy History and Very Public Passions of London's Georgian Age''. Macmillan. pp. 19–20. {{ISBN|1429919566}}.</ref>

The inaugural series was an immediate success and was followed in 1733–1735 by the sequel ''[[A Rake's Progress]]''.<ref>For the paintings, see Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', nos. 74–81. For the engravings, see Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 132–139.</ref><ref>[http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/hogarth_william_arakesprogresscompletesetofeight.htm ''Hogarth's The Rake's Progress'' and other of his works].</ref> The second instalment consisted of eight pictures that depicted the reckless life of Tom Rakewell, the son of a rich merchant, who spends all of his money on luxurious living, services from prostitutes, and gambling&nbsp;– the character's life ultimately ends in [[Bethlem Royal Hospital]]. The original paintings of ''A Harlot's Progress'' were destroyed in the fire at [[Fonthill Abbey|Fonthill House]] in 1755; the oil paintings of ''A Rake's Progress'' (1733–34) are displayed in the gallery room at [[Sir John Soane's Museum]], London, UK.<ref>{{cite web|title=A Rake's Progress|url=http://www.soane.org/collections_legacy/the_soane_hogarths/rakes_progress|work=Sir John Soane's Museum|access-date=13 December 2013|year=2012}}</ref>

When the success of ''A Harlot's Progress'' and ''A Rake's Progress'' resulted in numerous pirated reproductions by unscrupulous printsellers, Hogarth lobbied in [[Parliament of Great Britain|parliament]] for greater legal control over the reproduction of his and other artists' work. The result was the [[Engraving Copyright Act 1734|Engravers' Copyright Act]] (known as 'Hogarth's Act'), which became law on 25 June 1735 and was the first copyright law to deal with visual works as well as the first to recognise the authorial rights of an individual artist.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Verhoogt|first1=Robert|title=Art in Reproduction: Nineteenth-century Prints After Lawrence Alma-tadema, Jozef Israels and Ary Scheffer|date=2007|publisher=Amsterdam University Press|location=Amsterdam|isbn=978-9053569139|pages=15–16|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jSDnRo7YrWwC|access-date=13 December 2014}}</ref>

====''Marriage A-la-Mode''====
[[File:Marriage A-la-Mode 4, The Toilette - William Hogarth.jpg|thumbnail|''Marriage à-la-mode'', ''[[Marriage à-la-mode: 4. The Toilette|After the old Earl's funeral]]'' (scene four of six)]]

In 1743–1745, Hogarth painted the six pictures of ''[[Marriage A-la-Mode (Hogarth)|Marriage A-la-Mode]]'' ([[National Gallery, London]]),<ref>Robert L. S. Cowley, ''Marriage A-la-Mode: a re-view of Hogarth's narrative art'' (Manchester University Press, 1983); Judy Egerton, ''Hogarth's 'Marriage A-la-Mode{{'}}'', London: The National Gallery 1997.</ref> a pointed skewering of upper-class 18th-century society. An engraved version of the same series, produced by French engravers, appeared in 1745.<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 158-163.</ref><ref>[http://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12984 Print series in detail]</ref> This moralistic warning shows the miserable tragedy of an ill-considered marriage for money. This is regarded by many as his finest project and may be among his best-planned story serials.

Marital ethics were the topic of much debate in 18th-century Britain. The many marriages of convenience and their attendant unhappiness came in for particular criticism, with a variety of authors taking the view that love was a much sounder basis for marriage. Hogarth here painted a satire – a genre that by definition has a moral point to convey – of a conventional marriage within the English upper class. All the paintings were engraved and the series achieved wide circulation in print form. The series, which is set in a Classical interior, shows the story of the fashionable marriage of Viscount Squanderfield, the son of bankrupt Earl Squander, to the daughter of a wealthy but miserly city merchant, starting with the signing of a marriage contract at the Earl's grand house and ending with the murder of the son by his wife's lover and the suicide of the daughter after her lover is hanged at [[Tyburn, London|Tyburn]] for murdering her husband.

[[William Makepeace Thackeray]] wrote: {{blockquote|This famous set of pictures contains the most important and highly wrought of the Hogarth comedies. The care and method with which the moral grounds of these pictures are laid is as remarkable as the wit and skill of the observing and dexterous artist. He has to describe the negotiations for a marriage pending between the daughter of a rich citizen Alderman and young Lord Viscount Squanderfield, the dissipated son of a gouty old Earl ... The dismal end is known. My lord draws upon the counsellor, who kills him, and is apprehended while endeavouring to escape. My lady goes back perforce to the Alderman of the City, and faints upon reading Counsellor Silvertongue's dying speech at Tyburn (place of execution in old London), where the counsellor has been 'executed for sending his lordship out of the world. Moral: don't listen to evil silver-tongued counsellors; don't marry a man for his rank, or a woman for her money; don't frequent foolish auctions and masquerade balls unknown to your husband; don't have wicked companions abroad and neglect your wife, otherwise you will be run through the body, and ruin will ensue, and disgrace, and Tyburn.<ref>Thackeray, William Makepeace, ''The English Humourists of the Eighteenth Century''.</ref>}}

====''Industry and Idleness''====
[[Image:William Hogarth - Industry and Idleness, Plate 1; The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms.png|thumb|right|''Industry and Idleness'' Plate 1, The Fellow 'Prentices at their Looms]]
In the twelve prints of ''[[Industry and Idleness]]'' (1747),<ref name="ReferenceA">Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 168–179.</ref> Hogarth shows the progression in the lives of two [[Apprenticeship|apprentices]], one of whom is dedicated and hard working, while the other, who is idle, commits crime and is eventually executed. This shows the work ethic of [[Protestantism|Protestant]] England, where those who worked hard were rewarded, such as the industrious apprentice who becomes [[Sheriff of London|Sheriff]] (plate 8), [[Alderman]] (plate 10), and finally the [[Sheriffs of the City of London|Lord Mayor]] of London in the last plate in the series. The idle apprentice, who begins "at play in the church yard" (plate 3), holes up "in a Garrett with a Common Prostitute" after turning [[highwayman]] (plate 7) and "executed at Tyburn" (plate 11). The idle apprentice is sent to the [[gallows]] by the industrious apprentice himself. For each plate, there is at least one passage from the Bible at the bottom, mostly from the [[Book of Proverbs]], such as for the first plate:
:"Industry and Idleness, shown here, 'Proverbs Ch:10 Ver:4 The hand of the diligent maketh rich.'"

====''Beer Street'' and ''Gin Lane''====
[[File:Beer Street MET DP825287.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Beer Street and Gin Lane#Beer Street|Beer Street]]'']]

Later prints of significance include his pictorial warning of the consequences of alcoholism in [[Beer Street and Gin Lane|''Beer Street'' and ''Gin Lane'']] (1751).<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 185–186.</ref> Hogarth engraved ''Beer Street'' to show a happy city drinking the 'good' beverage, [[English beer]], in contrast to ''Gin Lane'', in which the effects of drinking gin are shown – as a more potent liquor, gin caused more problems for society.<ref>See Mark Hallett, ''The Spectacle of Difference'' (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), pp.198–222.</ref> There had been a sharp increase in the popularity of gin at this time, which was called the '[[Gin Craze]].' It started in the early 18th century, after a series of legislative actions in the late 17th century impacted the importation and manufacturing of alcohol in London. Among these, were the [[Prohibition of 1678]], which barred popular French brandy imports, and the forced disbandment, in 1690, of the [[London Guild of Distillers]],<ref>{{Cite book|last=Dillon|first=Patrick|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bZ3waDx1puYC|title=Gin: The Much-lamented Death of Madam Geneva|publisher=[[Justin, Charles & Company]]|year=2004|isbn=9781932112252|pages=14, 15}}</ref> whose members had previously been the only legal manufacturers of alcohol, leading to an increase in the production and then  consumption of domestic gin.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Picard|first=Liza|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bH85AgAAQBAJ|title=Dr Johnson's London|publisher=[[Orion Publishing Group]]|year=2013|isbn=9781780226491|location=London, UK|chapter=14}}</ref>

In ''Beer Street'', people are shown as healthy, happy and prosperous, while in ''Gin Lane'', they are scrawny, lazy and careless. The woman at the front of ''Gin Lane'', who lets her baby fall to its death, echoes the tale of [[Judith Dufour]], who strangled her baby so she could sell its clothes for gin money.<ref>See [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/personal-view/11202643/Hogarth-the-father-of-the-modern-cartoon.html "Hogarth, the father of the modern cartoon", ''The Telegraph'', 13 May 2015.]</ref> The prints were published in support of the [[Gin Act 1751]].

Hogarth's friend, the magistrate [[Henry Fielding]], may have enlisted Hogarth to help with propaganda for the Gin Act; ''Beer Street'' and ''Gin Lane'' were issued shortly after his work ''An Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers, and Related Writings'', and addressed the same issues.<ref>See [https://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/w/william_hogarth,_beer_street.aspx "William Hogarth, Beer Street and Gin Lane, two prints", British Museum.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151031115252/http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pd/w/william_hogarth,_beer_street.aspx |date=31 October 2015 }}</ref>

====''The Four Stages of Cruelty''====

[[File:The First Stage of Cruelty (The Four Stages of Cruelty) MET DP835381.jpg|thumb|right|''First Stage of Cruelty'']]

Other prints were his outcry against inhumanity in ''[[The Four Stages of Cruelty]]'' (published 21 February 1751),<ref name="ReferenceA"/> in which Hogarth depicts the cruel treatment of animals which he saw around him and suggests what will happen to people who carry on in this manner. In the first print, there are scenes of boys torturing dogs, cats and other animals. It centers around a poorly dressed boy committing a  violent act of torture upon a dog, while being pleaded with to stop, and offered food, by another well-dressed boy. A boy behind them has graffitied a [[hanged]] stickman figure upon a wall, with the name "Tom Nero" underneath, and is pointing to this dog torturer.

The second shows Tom Nero has grown up to become a [[Hackney coach]] driver. His coach has overturned with a heavy load and his horse is lying on the ground, having broken its leg. He is beating it with the handle of his whip; its eye severely wounded. Other people around him are seen abusing their work animals and livestock, and a child is being run over by the wheel of a [[Brewer's dray|dray]], as the [[drayman]] dozes off on the job.

In the third print, Tom is shown to be a murderer, surrounded by a mob of accusers. The woman he has apparently killed is lying on the ground, brutally slain, with a trunk and sack of stolen goods near by. One of the accusers holds a letter from the woman to Tom, speaking of how wronging her mistress upsets her conscience, but that she is resolved to do as he would have her, closing with: "I remain yours till death."

The fourth, titled ''The Reward of Cruelty'', shows Tom's withering corpse being publicly dissected by scientists after his execution by hanging; a noose still around his neck. The dissection reflects the [[Murder Act 1751]], which allowed for the public dissection of criminals who had been hanged for murder.

===Portraits===

[[File:William Hogarth - David Garrick as Richard III - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|left|[[David Garrick]] as Richard III, 1745]]
Hogarth was also a popular [[portrait painter]]. In 1745, he painted actor [[David Garrick]] as [[Richard III (play)|Richard III]],<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 185.</ref> for which he was paid £200, "which was more", he wrote, "than any English artist ever received for a single portrait." With this picture Hogarth established the genre of theatrical portraiture as a distinctively British kind of history painting.<ref>[[Robin Simon (critic)|Robin Simon]], [https://www.paulholberton.com/product-page/shakespeare-hogarth-and-garrick-plays-painting-and-performance ''Shakespeare, Hogarth and Garrick: Plays, Painting and Performance''] (London 2023).</ref> In 1746, a sketch of [[Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat]], afterwards beheaded on Tower Hill, had an exceptional success when turned into an etching.<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, no. 166.</ref>
[[File:Hogarth, William - Portrait of a Man - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|right|Portrait of a Man, 1741]]

In 1740,<ref>Waterhouse, Ellis. (1994) ''Painting in Britain 1530–1790''. 5th edn. New Haven and London: [[Yale University Press]], p. 175. {{ISBN|0300058330}}</ref> he created a truthful, vivid full-length portrait of his friend, the philanthropic [[Thomas Coram|Captain Coram]], for the [[Thomas Coram Foundation for Children]], now in the [[Foundling Museum]].<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 128.</ref>  This portrait, and his unfinished oil sketch of a young fishwoman, entitled ''[[The Shrimp Girl]]'' ([[National Gallery, London]]),<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 148.</ref> may be called masterpieces of [[British painting]]. There are also portraits of his wife, his two sisters, and of many other people; among them Bishop [[Benjamin Hoadly]] and Bishop [[Thomas Herring]]. The engraved portrait of [[John Wilkes]] was a bestseller.<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, no. 214.</ref><ref>[https://www.parliament.uk/about/living-heritage/evolutionofparliament/houseofcommons/reformacts/from-the-parliamentary-collections/wilkes1/wilkes1/ Hogarth & John Wilkes - UK Parliament Living Heritage]</ref>

===Historical subjects===
For a long period, during the mid-18th century, Hogarth tried to achieve the status of a [[history painter]], but did not earn much respect in this field. The painter, and later founder of the [[Royal Academy of Arts]], [[Joshua Reynolds]], was highly critical of Hogarth's style and work. According to art historian [[David Bindman]], in [[Dr Johnson]]'s serial of essays for London's ''Universal Chronicle'', ''[[The Idler (1758–60)|The Idler]]'', the three essays written by Reynolds for the months of September through November 1759 are directed at Hogarth. Whereas the ''Idler'' essay no. 76, which attacks a connoisseur's "servile attention to minute exactness", seems to be more likely a response to the Hogarth supporter, Benjamin Ralph and his book, ''The School of Raphael'' (published in May 1759),<ref>[http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/volltexte/2022/8049 Bernd Krysmanski, "Benjamin Ralph's ''School of Raphael'' (1759): Praise for Hogarth and a direct source for Reynolds"], ''British Journal for Eighteenth Century Studies'', 24 (2001), pp. 15-32.</ref> in the ''Idler'' essay no. 79, Reynolds questions Hogarth's notion of the imitation of nature as "the obvious sense, that objects are represented naturally when they have such relief that they seem real." Reynolds rejected "this kind of imitation", favouring the "grand style of painting" which avoids "minute attention" to the visible world.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bindman|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kS2AoG7afdUC|title=Hogarth and His Times: Serious Comedy|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1997|isbn=9780520213005|pages=15, 17}}</ref> In Reynolds' ''Discourse XIV'', he grants Hogarth has "extraordinary talents", but reproaches him for "very imprudently, or rather presumptuously, attempt[ing] the great historical style."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bindman|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kS2AoG7afdUC|title=Hogarth and His Times: Serious Comedy|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1997|isbn=9780520213005|pages=18}}</ref>

Writer, art historian and politician, [[Horace Walpole]], was also critical of Hogarth as a history painter, but did find value in his satirical prints.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Bindman|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kS2AoG7afdUC|title=Hogarth and His Times: Serious Comedy|publisher=[[University of California Press]]|year=1997|isbn=9780520213005|pages=17}}</ref>

====Biblical scenes====
Hogarth's history pictures include ''The Pool of Bethesda'' and ''The Good Samaritan'', executed in 1736–1737 for [[St Bartholomew's Hospital]];<ref>Elizabeth Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'' (New Haven and London: Yale University Press 2016), nos. 90–91.</ref> ''Moses brought before Pharaoh's Daughter'', painted for the [[Foundling Hospital]] (1747, formerly at the [[Thomas Coram Foundation for Children]], now in the [[Foundling Museum]]);<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 198.</ref> ''Paul before Felix'' (1748) at [[Lincoln's Inn]];<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 204.</ref> and his altarpiece for [[St. Mary Redcliffe]], [[Bristol]] (1755–56).<ref>[https://archive.org/details/bha046 M. J. Liversidge, ''William Hogarth's Bristol Altar-Piece'' (Bristol Historical Association pamphlet, no. 46, 1980) 24 pp.]</ref>

====''The Gate of Calais''====
''[[The Gate of Calais]]'' (1748; now in [[Tate Britain]]) was produced soon after his return from a visit to France.<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 201.</ref> [[Horace Walpole]] wrote that Hogarth had run a great risk to go there since the [[Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748)|peace of Aix-la-Chapelle]].

Back home, he immediately executed a painting of the subject in which he unkindly represented his enemies, the Frenchmen, as cringing, emaciated and superstitious people, while an enormous sirloin of beef arrives, destined for the English inn as a symbol of British prosperity and superiority. He claimed to have painted himself into the picture in the left corner sketching the gate, with a "soldier's hand upon my shoulder", running him in.<ref>[[#JBN1833|J. B. Nichols, 1833]] [https://archive.org/details/anecdoteswillia00hogagoog/page/n39 <!-- pg=1 quote="William Hogarth". --> p.63] "in one corner introduced my own portrait"</ref>

===Other later works===
[[File:William Hogarth - David Garrick (1717-79) with his wife Eva-Maria Veigel, "La Violette" or "Violetti" (1725 - 1822) - Google Art Project.jpg|thumb|[[David Garrick]] and his wife [[Eva Marie Veigel]], c.&nbsp;1757–1764, [[Royal Collection]] at [[Windsor Castle]]]]

Notable Hogarth engravings in the 1740s include ''[[The Enraged Musician]]'' (1741), the six prints of ''[[Marriage à-la-mode (Hogarth)|Marriage à-la-mode]]'' (1745; executed by French artists under Hogarth's inspection), and ''[[The Stage Coach or The Country Inn Yard]]'' (1747).<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 152, 158–163, 167.</ref>

In 1745, Hogarth painted a self-portrait with his pug dog, [[Trump (dog)|Trump]] (now also in [[Tate Britain]]), which shows him as a learned artist supported by volumes of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], [[John Milton|Milton]] and [[Jonathan Swift|Swift]].<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 194.</ref> In 1749, he represented the somewhat disorderly English troops on their ''[[March of the Guards to Finchley]]'' (formerly located in [[Thomas Coram Foundation for Children]], now [[Foundling Museum]]).<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', no. 207.</ref>

Others works included his ingenious ''[[Satire on False Perspective]]'' (1754);<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, no. 232.</ref> his satire on canvassing in his ''[[Humours of an Election|Election]]'' series (1755–1758; now in [[Sir John Soane's Museum]]);<ref>Einberg, ''William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings'', nos. 214–217.</ref> his ridicule of the English passion for [[cockfighting]] in [[The Cockpit (1759)|''The Cockpit'' (1759)]]; his attack on [[Methodism]] in ''[[Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism]]'' (1762);<ref>{{cite journal | url=https://doi.org/10.11588/artdok.00008018 | doi=10.11588/artdok.00008018 | year=2022 | last1=Krysmanski | first1=Bernd | title=We see a ghost : Hogarth's satire on Methodists and connoisseurs | journal=The Art Bulletin | volume=80 | issue=2 | pages=292–310 }}</ref> his political anti-war satire in [[The Times, plate I|''The Times'', plate I]] (1762);<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, no. 211.</ref> and his pessimistic view of all things in ''[[Tailpiece, or The Bathos]]'' (1764).<ref>Paulson, ''Hogarth's Graphic Works'', 3rd edition, nos. 206, 210a, 211, 216.</ref>

In 1757, Hogarth was appointed [[Serjeant Painter]] to the King.<ref name=RP>Ronald Paulson, ''Hogarth'', vol. 3 (New Brunswick 1993), pp. 213–216.</ref>

===Writing===
[[File:Analysis of Beauty Plate 1 by William Hogarth.jpg|thumb|''[[The Analysis of Beauty]]'' plate 1 (1753)]]
Hogarth wrote and published his ideas of artistic design in his book ''[[The Analysis of Beauty]]'' (1753).<ref>William Hogarth, ''The Analysis of Beauty'' (1753), ed. Ronald Paulson, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997 {{ISBN|978-0-300-07346-1}}</ref> In it, he professes to define the principles of beauty and grace which he, a real child of [[Rococo]], saw realized in serpentine lines (the [[Line of Beauty]]).<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/r/rococo|title=Rococo – Art Term {{!}} Tate|last=Tate|work=Tate|access-date=23 June 2017|language=en-GB}}</ref> By some of Hogarth's adherents, the book was praised as a fine deliverance upon aesthetics; by his enemies and rivals, its obscurities and minor errors were made the subject of endless ridicule and caricature.<ref>Timbs, John (1881). [https://books.google.com/books?id=gF5JAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA57 ''Anecdote Lives of William Hogarth, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Thomas Gainsborough, Henry Fuseli, Sir Thomas Lawrence, and J.M.W. Turner'']. R. Bentley. pp. 57–58.</ref> For instance, [[Paul Sandby]] produced several caricatures against Hogarth's treatise.<ref>Geoff Quilley, "The Analysis of Deceit: Sandby's Satires against Hogarth", in John Bonehill and Stephen Daniels (eds.), ''Paul Sandby: Picturing Britain'', exh. cat., London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2009, 38-47.</ref> Hogarth wrote also a manuscript called ''Apology for Painters'' ({{Circa|1761}})<ref>Michael Kitson, "Hogarth's 'Apology for Painters'", ''Walpole Society'', 41 (1966-1968), pp. 46-111.</ref> and unpublished "autobiographical notes".<ref>William Hogarth, ''The Analysis of Beauty, With the Rejected Passages from the Manuscript Drafts and Autobiographical Notes'', edited by Joseph Burke (Oxford, 1955), pp. 201-31.</ref>

===Painter and engraver of modern moral subjects===
Hogarth lived in an age when artwork became increasingly commercialized, being viewed in shop windows, [[tavern]]s, and public buildings, and sold in [[old master print|printshops]]. Old hierarchies broke down, and new forms began to flourish: the [[ballad opera]], the [[bourgeois tragedy]], and especially, a new form of [[fiction]] called the [[novel]] with which authors such as [[Henry Fielding]] had great success. Therefore, by that time, Hogarth hit on a new idea: "painting and engraving modern moral subjects ... to treat my subjects as a dramatic writer; my picture was my stage", as he himself remarked in his manuscript notes.

He drew from the highly moralizing [[Protestant]] tradition of Dutch [[genre painting]], and the very vigorous satirical traditions of the English [[broadsheet]] and other types of popular print. In England the fine arts had little comedy in them before Hogarth. His prints were expensive, and remained so until early 19th-century reprints brought them to a wider audience.

===Parodic borrowings from Old Masters===
When analysing the work of the artist as a whole, [[Ronald Paulson]] says, "In ''[[A Harlot's Progress]]'', every single plate but one is based on [[Albrecht Dürer|Dürer]]'s images of the story of the [[Mary, the mother of Jesus|Virgin]] and the story of the [[Passion (Christianity)|Passion]]." In other works, he parodies [[Leonardo da Vinci]]'s [[The Last Supper (Leonardo)|Last Supper]]. According to Paulson, Hogarth is subverting the religious establishment and the orthodox belief in an immanent [[God]] who intervenes in the lives of people and produces [[miracle]]s. Indeed, Hogarth was a [[Deist]], a believer in a God who created the universe but takes no direct hand in the lives of his creations. Thus, as a "comic history painter", he often poked fun at the old-fashioned, "beaten" subjects of religious art in his paintings and prints. Hogarth also rejected [[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury|Lord Shaftesbury]]'s then-current ideal of the [[Art in ancient Greece#Classical|classical Greek]] male in favour of the living, breathing female. He said, "Who but a bigot, even to the [[antiques]], will say that he has not seen faces and necks, hands and arms in living women, that even the Grecian [[Venus (goddess)|Venus]] doth but coarsely imitate."