The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series(Annotated)
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The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series(Annotated) Details
Notwithstanding Hogarth professed to decry literature, he felt an inclination to communicate to the public his ideas on a topic connected with his art. His "Analysis of Beauty" made its appearance in one volume quarto, in the year 1753. Its leading principle is, that beauty fundamentally consists in that union of uniformity which is found in the curve or waving line; and that round swelling figures are most pleasing to the eye. This principle he illustrates by many ingenious remarks and examples, and also by some plates characteristic of his genius.In the year 1757, his brother-in-law, Mr. Thornhill, resigned his office of king's serjeant-painter in favour of Hogarth, who received his appointment on the 6th of June, and entered on his functions on the 16th of July, both in the same year. This place was re-granted to him by a warrant of George the Third, which bears date the 30th October, 1761, with a salary of ten pounds per annum, payable quarterly.This connexion with the court probably induced Hogarth to deviate from the strict line of party neutrality which he had hitherto observed, and to engage against Mr. Wilkes and his friends, in a print published in September, 1762, entitled The Times. This publication provoked some severe strictures from Wilkes's pen, in a North Briton (No. 17.) Hogarth replied by a caricature of the writer: a rejoinder was put in by Churchill, in an angry epistle to Hogarth (not the brightest of his works); and in which the severest strokes fell on a defect the painter had not caused, and could not amend--his age; which, however, was neither remarkable nor decrepit; much less had it impaired his talents: for, only six months before, he had produced one of his most capital works. In revenge for this epistle, Hogarth caricatured Churchill, under the form of a canonical bear, with a club and a pot of porter.During this period of warfare (so virulent and disgraceful to all the parties), Hogarth's health visibly declined. In 1762, he complained of an internal pain, the continuance of which produced a general decay of the system, that proved incurable; and, on the 25th of October, 1764, (having been previously conveyed in a very weak and languid state from Chiswick to Leicester Fields,) he died suddenly, of an aneurism in his chest, in the sixty-seventh or sixty-eighth year of his age. His remains were interred at Chiswick, beneath a plain but neat mausoleum, with the following elegant inscription by his friend Garrick:--"Farewell, great painter of mankind, Who reach'd the noblest point of art; Whose pictured morals charm the mind, And through the eye correct the heart. If Genius fire thee, reader, stay; If Nature touch thee, drop a tear: If neither move thee, turn away, For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here."LIST OF ENGRAVINGS.VOL. I.RAKE'S PROGRESS. PagePLATE 1 Heir taking Possession 11 " 2 Surrounded by Artists 13 " 3 Tavern Scene 15 " 4 Arrested for Debt 17 " 5 Marries an Old Maid 19 " 6 Gaming House 21 " 7 Prison Scene 23 " 8 Mad House 25The Distressed Poet 27 The Bench 29 The Laughing Audience 31 Gate of Calais 33 The Politician 35 Taste in High Life 37HARLOT'S PROGRESS.PLATE 1 39 " 2 41 " 3 43 " 4 45 " 5 47 " 6 49The Lecture 51 The Chorus 53 Columbus breaking the Egg 55 Modern Midnight Conversation 57 Consultation of Physicians 59 Portrait of Daniel Lock, Esq. 61 The Enraged Musician 63 Masquerades and Operas 65TIMES OF THE DAY.Morning 67 Noon 69 Evening 71 Night 73Sigismonda 75 Portrait of Martin Fowkes, Esq. 77 The Cockpit 78 Captain Thomas Coram 81 Country Inn Yard 83INDUSTRY AND IDLENESS.PLATE 1 85 " 2 87 " 3 89 " 4 91 " 5 93 " 6 95 " 7 97 " 8 99 " 9 101 " 10 103 " 11 105 " 12 107Southwark Fair. 109 Garrick as Richard III. 111F
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