Editing William Hogarth (section)

===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.