William Hogarth was born in 1697 to a family of humble means, and brought up in the then rather insalubrious area of Smithfield Market. He was apprenticed to a Silver Plate Engraver after being taken from school early to learn this trade. In 1720 Hogarth enrolled at the Saint Martin’s Lane Academy whilst striving to establish himself as a successful artist of relative autonomy. His career escalated with speed, and in 1729 he eloped and married Jane Thornhill daughter of Sir James Thornhill, a successful painter with whom he trained under briefly. Thornhill quickly forgave his new son-in-law, and their association assisted Hogarth in winning lucrative commissions that set his career on the right path. His early exploration of political satires, combined with his later success as an oil painter, manifested in his acclaimed series Marriage à-la-Mode, The Rake’s Progress and The Harlot’s Progress, and are amongst some of his finest work.

It is for these moralising satires that Hogarth is perhaps best known, drawing on London life and the stratification of class in the eighteenth-century. These engravings not only provide insight into the history of London but also the power of social critique and satire. Hogarth himself became a devoted supporter of the Foundling Hospital, a home for children whose mothers could not care for them, donating many works of art to what would eventually become England’s first public gallery.

Below are a few examples from this collection. Please click on an image to see it in high-resolution with details of the work itself. For the full list of original antique Hogarth engravings available,  please do contact us.

Humours of an Election. Entertainment, Canvassing, Polling and Charing. Satire of the corrupt process of an Oxfordshire MP’s election. Set of four.

Set of six.

Frontispiece. Absurdities in perspective.

Hogarth’s frontispiece to Brook Taylor’s 1715 publication regarding the theory of perspective. A Putto holds an open book revealing it to be Palladio’s treatise on architecture whilst gesturing towards a folly in the neoclassical style.

Set of six.

Set of seven.

Set of eight.

Set of six.

Illustrating Hogarth’s theories on the sources of Beauty. Sold as a pair.

Set of six.

In 1748 Hogarth was arrested as a spy while sketching the arms of England on a city gate with Francis Hayman. The title is from a popular song in praise of roast beef, symbol of Britain’s power and wealth.

Set of six.

Illustrating Hogarth’s theories on the sources of Beauty. Sold as a pair.

Before and After. Almost by chance Hogarth had hit on the pictorial form that was to make his reputation. Hogarth was always the businessman, and this quick success gave him a golden idea: instead of depicting lively scenes from another man’s play, why not imagine scenes of his own suitable for picturing. Thus began Hogarth’s career in dramatic narrative. His first attempt, in 1731, was a pair of paintings entitled Before and After, illustrating a seduction. Said to have been commissioned by “a certain vicious nobleman”, the pictures nevertheless contain an element of moralising in that the man in After looks somewhat dazed and unhappy despite his lustful conquest. Sold as a pair.

Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism. A satire of religious fanaticism, particularly relating to Methodists.

Four Stages of Cruelty. Set of four.

Before and After. Almost by chance Hogarth had hit on the pictorial form that was to make his reputation. Hogarth was always the businessman, and this quick success gave him a golden idea: instead of depicting lively scenes from another man’s play, why not imagine scenes of his own suitable for picturing. Thus began Hogarth’s career in dramatic narrative. His first attempt, in 1731, was a pair of paintings entitled Before and After, illustrating a seduction. Said to have been commissioned by “a certain vicious nobleman”, the pictures nevertheless contain an element of moralising in that the man in After looks somewhat dazed and unhappy despite his lustful conquest. Sold as a pair.

Set of seven.

Four Stages of Cruelty. Set of four.

Set of seven.

Hogarth divides the periwigs into five categories to parody the the five orders outlined in Palladian architecture.

Set of six.

Humours of an Election. Entertainment, Canvassing, Polling and Charing. Satire of the corrupt process of an Oxfordshire MP’s election. Set of four.

Humours of an Election. Entertainment, Canvassing, Polling and Charing. Satire of the corrupt process of an Oxfordshire MP’s election. Set of four.

Set of six.

Set of eight.

Set of seven.

Set of eight.

Set of seven.

Four Stages of Cruelty. Set of four.

Set of six.

Set of six.

Set of eight.

Book I line III. Domestic scene of garret poverty.

Reference to allegorical depictions of death and decline.

Humours of an Election. Entertainment, Canvassing, Polling and Charing. Satire of the corrupt process of an Oxfordshire MP’s election. Set of four.

Set of eight.

Vengence et le Bon Bier et Bon Boef de Angleterre.

Four Stages of Cruelty. Set of four.

Bambridge on Trial for Murder by a Committee of the House of Commons.

Set of eight.

Set of eight.

Originally executed for Ebenezer Forrest (d. 1783). A politician sits at a table so engrossed with his newspaper he fails to notice that his hat has caught fire.

Set of six.

Set of six.

Sleeping Congregation, Masquerades and Operas, and Columbus Breaking the Egg.

Set of six.

Set of seven.

Set of eight.

Hogarth’s depiction of this biblical tale engraved by John Boydell reveals Hogarth’s desire to be viewed as an academic painter, working within the genre of moral painting. Strong Impression.

This engraving by Bartolozzi depicts Hogarth’s renowned painting, ‘Shrimp Girl’. After his death, his wife used this painting to demonstrate Hogarth’s skill as a painter of flesh.