Moral in the paintings of William Hogarth

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

William Hogarth is one of the artists who had a huge impact on the English school of painting in the 18th century. He contributed to the development of realism and everyday genre, as well as sharp public satire.

Childhood and youth

The painter was born in 1697 in London. The family lived in poverty. His father was a teacher, sometimes translating from Latin. Mother was something of a healer and prepared various potions and poultices.

William's creativity began to show as a child. He was a capable child with an inquisitive mind and the ability to notice everything, but he studied poorly at school, because he painted all the time in class. His already poor family was completely ruined. The father was thrown into a debtor's prison, and the responsibility for the maintenance of his mother and sisters fell on the shoulders of the still young Hogarth. At the same time, his creative path began.

Profession

William Hogarth is apprenticed to a silversmith, where he learns to work with metal and make engravings. There he also got acquainted with the fashion trends of the modern rococo style. Soonhe opens a workshop where he prints his own engravings of topical content, which were a huge success. Along with this, the artist takes oil painting lessons.

Until the age of 30, he was engaged in book graphics. For example, he illustrated Samuel Butler's poem "Gudibras". Pictures William Hogarth began to paint a couple of years after that.

Series of paintings

The painter has already secured fame for his social and political engravings with a humorous nature, which were in great demand. And so the themes for the paintings of William Hogarth were all the same human vices, stupidity, prejudice. He paints a whole series of paintings in the form of stories with a tragic denouement. In them, the artist describes the life situations of different strata of society.

The most famous paintings by William Hogarth are "Career of a Mot", "Career of a Prostitute", "Fashionable Marriage", "Elections to Parliament", "Diligence and Indolence". The artist ridicules the lack of morality in modern society, the rotten traditions of the English aristocracy with its marriages of convenience, corrupt officials, exposes drunkenness, violence, debauchery.

Fashion Marriage

The cycle of moral and instructive works by William Hogarth "Fashionable Marriage" was widely known, 6 paintings of which tell about such a frequent phenomenon in society as marriage of convenience. This was the only chance for the ruined aristocracy to enter the bourgeois circles. At the same time, marriage contracts were more like contractspurchase and sale. Such marriages are a vivid example of the immorality of society. Almost all of William Hogarth's paintings contain not only a moralizing nature, but also ridicule the then fashionable French Rococo style, which is expressed in the poses of the characters and in the luxury of the interiors.

Description of "Fashion Marriage" scenes

A Fashionable Marriage tells the story of Count Skander (whose last name translates as "mot") who marries his son, Viscount, to the daughter of a we althy merchant, apparently to improve his financial hardship due to extravagance. For the merchant, in turn, this marriage promises an increase in social status.

The first canvas depicts a scene in the count's house during the marriage "deal". We see a merchant with a contract in his hands and a count who shows him a scroll with a family tree of his noble family. At the same time, their children are completely indifferent to each other. And the personification of such a marriage are two dogs, chained against their will with one chain.

The second canvas shows the newlyweds. The room is in disarray. The dog exposes the young husband's infidelity by pulling a woman's bonnet from his pocket. The manager shrugged it off and left with a bunch of unpaid bills.

The third scene takes place in the doctor's office, where the Viscount came with his mistress for a very specific reason. The black spot on his neck is obvioussign of syphilis. Also, signs of the disease are noticeable in a woman who, apparently, threatens the doctor with a knife, and in a girl who holds a box of medicine in her hands. The Viscount has the same box in his hands. He also threatens the doctor - the prescribed pills did not work.

The fourth picture shows us the young wife's boudoir. The scene is full of hidden hints. The decoration of the boudoir with a crown indicates that the old count has died and she has received the title of countess. Everywhere you can see hints of her infidelity to her husband. We see a character already familiar from the first picture, with whom the countess is talking sweetly, and his portrait hangs on the wall. Most likely they are lovers. Other paintings on the wall are clearly erotic. The page boy holds in his hand the figurine of the horned Actaeon as a symbol of treason.

The fifth scene is already frankly tragic. The countess secluded herself with her lover and cheated on her husband. The husband tracked them down and caught them "hot". Apparently, a sword duel took place between the men, in which the Viscount was mortally wounded. The lover hurriedly retreats through the window, and the wife on her knees asks her husband for forgiveness.

The sixth picture is the apotheosis of marriage of convenience. We see the house of the merchant, the father of the countess. She read in the newspaper at her feet that her lover was executed for murder. Out of grief, she takes poison. The two men are arguing, most likely a doctor scolding a servant. Since only a daughter remained from this marriage and there was no son who could inherit the title of earl,for which everyone started, the title was lost. The merchant was left with nothing. And finally, only the skinny dog benefited from the current situation, which, taking the opportunity, decided to feast on the table.

Description of the painting by William Hogarth "Self-portrait with a dog"

Hogarth was not only a satirist painter, but also a talented portrait painter. The most unusual is his "Self-portrait", in which he depicted himself with his beloved dog.

In the painting, a dog sits next to a portrait on the volumes of Milton, Shakespeare and Swift. Most likely, these are the artist's favorite authors. The palette is in the foreground. The self-portrait of William Hogarth looks like a picture in a picture, where he depicted himself surrounded by things dear to the heart.

The painter died in 1764 in London.

Hogarth was a pioneer in the domestic genre of English painting. For his creative activity, he not only created a large number of engravings, but also wrote a treatise on painting "Analysis of Beauty". The paintings of William Hogarth received a wide response in the art of Europe. However, the artist did not have a worthy successor in his homeland.