William Hogarth: The Painter of Comic History

William Hogarth (1697–1764) was born in London and rarely strayed beyond its precincts. Hogarth’s London, overcrowded with a million people, raucous and bawdy, provided a limitless source of subjects for his observant eye and sharp wit. His first satirical engravings appeared at the age of 24 in which “the then reigning follies are lashd,” and he continued in that vein, revealing the foibles of all strata of English society, for forty years. His print cycle-- A Harlot’s Progress, A Rake’s Progress, and Marriage à la Mode-- made Hogarth the artistic corollary of his contemporary literary satirists, Henry Fielding and Jonathan Swift. Serving as his own designer, engraver, publisher, and advertiser, and selling his prints inexpensively from his own shop, Hogarth reached the broadest possible audience, was by far the most popular artist of his day and was the first truly English artist.