Hogarth

As part of a class I've to produce a research poster based on one of the topics touched on in the lectures. 


The choices were:


1. Choose one of the Middle Age ‘scripts’ and consider its typographic evolution.

2. Choose either Victorian photography or the Theatre Optique and consider the subjects that these new technologies explored.

3. Select one of these practitioners and discuss their contribution to the culture of their day:  Dore, Beardsley, Blake, Morris or Hogarth.

Although I find a few of the other illustrators interesting and would also be happy doing the research poster on Theatre Optique, I've decided to do the research poster on the one that appealed to me most from the lectures, William Hogarth.

The reason for this is that I am passionate about sequential art and was very interested to learn that Hogarth is considered something of a pioneer in the form. 

Over his career he produced series of paintings that showed events in sequence. Paintings that told stories! 

Those paintings have similarities to panels from a comic book or at a stretch storyboards or key frames from an animation. 

I also like how he comments on the society and culture of his time through his paintings.

These are his "Beer Street" and "Gin Lane" prints where he is clearly commenting on the effects these drinks have on society. Beer Street shows happy respectable looking men and women enjoying themselves and Gin Lane shows dejected lonely alcoholics that have no control of their functions highlighted by the woman in the centre allowing her child to fall over the banister.


Another thing I love about his work is that there is loads going on in them. There's not just one focus and that's it. Everything in the paintings have a life or purpose to them.

Here's one of the series of paintings he made. It's called "A Rakes Progress".


The paintings tell the story of Tom Rakewell, the son of a wealthy merchant who inherits a fortune when his father dies.

The Heir. The first painting shows Tom being measured up for a new suit while paying off a servant girl, Sarah Young. She is clearly upset and holding a ring suggesting Tom had promised to marry her. The man behind Tom is stealing money from him.

The Levée. The second painting shows Tom enjoying his new wealth as the host of a morning levée attended by musicians and people dressed in expensive clothing indicating that these people are interested in Tom now only for his money and social status. They all seem to have a different discipline. These people want money from Tom.

The Orgy. In the third painting Tom is drunk in a pub with local prostitutes. Two of the women are robbing Tom and one undresses in the foreground. 

The Arrest. Tom has squandered his fortune and is almost arrested for debt. Sarah Young has paid his bail money. The bailiffs are wearing leaks in their hats to mark the occasion of St. Davids Day. Tom is also being robbed again by the street boy at the bottom left. The man above Tom isn't paying attention to what he's doing and is spilling oil on Tom's head symbolising Tom's misfortune.

The Marriage. Tom is shown marrying an elderly wealthy woman for her money. He has grown accustomed to his wealthy lifestyle. In the background, Sarah Young is being prevented from interrupting the ceremony. The two dogs in the foreground mirror the main event in the painting.

The Gaming House. Tom is on his knee cursing God for his bad luck having gambled away his second fortune. His wig has fallen off and his chair is toppled symbolic of his departure from wealth maybe? Everyone is so absorbed in the gambling that only two people have noticed the smoke from the roof. Tom is an addict and a fool, surrounded by similar people.

The Prison. Tom is shown in prison for debt. Beside him is a script for a play he has written in the hopes of securing freedom. Other inmates are trying similar schemes to regain their freedom. His elderly wife is beside him shouting in his ear but Tom looks quite withdrawn and depressed now. On the right Sarah Young, accompanied by her mother and child, has fainted.

The Madhouse. Tom is naked in the foreground in the madhouse. He's lost everything and sunk into depression. Sarah Young kneels beside him weeping. Two wealthy ladies visit the madhouse as one of the sites of the town which only serves to remind us of what Tom squandered twice. The other inmates all look mad. A naked man by a door in the background thinks he is king.

I think it's really hard to feel any sympathy for Tom. In this series he is really not a likeable character. He sort of deserves what he gets and Sarah Young deserves better. She's present throughout the series hoping he'll come to his senses. I think the point Hogarth is making is how money and wealth corrupts people. Before coming into money Tom and Sarah are preparing to marry and who knows where he might have ended up. It would certainly have been better than what he got. He is shown surrounded by parasites that only wanted his money and wealth. In the end the only one to stay with him is Sarah. Everyone else left when the money dried up.


Hogarth manages to show Tom's slow decline to madness through the series. This is particularly evident when you compare young vibrant Tom in the original painting to Tom in the Madhouse at the end where he has gone from being measured up for a new suit and surrounded by wealth and the possibility of still marrying Sarah to a sad shell of a man lying naked on the floor of a madhouse. He has no possessions, not even his clothes.