MODERN MORAL SUBJECTS, A Catalogue of Hogarth's Satirical Sets

MODERN MORAL SUBJECTS

A CATALOGUE of HOGARTH’S SATIRICAL SETS Sanders of Oxford

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Modern Moral Subjects A Catalogue of Hogarth’s Satirical Sets From Friday 12th October 2018.

Our latest catalogue contains a fine collection of the printed satirical sets and pairs of prints by

and with our impending departure from the EU Hogarth’s sharp ridicule of a dysfunctional society, sometimes with a Francophile bent, seems particularly pertinent.

All works are available to purchase and will be on display in the gallery.

Sanders of Oxford.

Antique Prints & Maps Salutation House 104 High Street Oxford OX1 4BW www.sandersofoxford.com - 01865 242590 - info@sandersofoxford.com Monday - Saturday 10am - 6pm. Sundays 11am - 5pm.

William Hogarth (1697 - 1764) was born in London, the son of an unsuccessful schoolmaster and writer from Westmorland.

After apprenticeship to a goldsmith, he began to produce his own engraved designs in about 1710. He later took up oil painting, starting with small portrait groups called conversation pieces.

He went on to create a series of paintings satirising contemporary customs, but based on earlier Italian prints, of which the first was The Harlot’s Progress (1731), and perhaps the most famous The Rake’s Progress. His engravings were so plagiarised that he lobbied for the Copyright Act of 1735, commonly referred to as ‘Hogarth’s Act,’ as a protection for writers and artists.

During the 1730s Hogarth also developed into an original painter of life-sized portraits, and created the first of several history paintings in the grand manner.

A HARLOT’S PROGRESS

01. A Harlot’s Progress William Hogarth Copper engraving Wm. Hogarth invt. pinxt. et sculpt. 1732. [John & Josiah Boydell, London, 1790] Images 298 x 376 mm, Plates 320 x 394 mm, Sheets 475 x 645 mm Unmounted A complete set of six engravings of Hogarth’s famous moral satire, A Harlot’s Progress. The series was the first of Hogarth’s ‘Moral Progresses,’ and, like the following ‘Rake’s Progress’ and ‘Marriage a-la-Mode’, were a sardonic twist on the popular allegories of religious development and revelation in works like Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.

The series, depicting the career of a young prostitute from initiation to untimely death, was inspired by an oil painting Hogarth had completed of a harlot in her boudoir. The original paintings were once in the collection of William Beckford Snr, politician and father of William Beckford Jnr, the connoisseur and author, but were destroyed in a fire which consumed Beckford’s Fonthill House in 1755.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Minor waterstaining to left margin of sheets, not affecting plates or images. Small repaired tears to some margins, not affecting plates.

[46066] £1,400

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Plate 1: The young woman, Mary (or ‘Moll’) Hackabout, arrives in Cheapside on a stagecoach from York. She has brought a goose for her cousin, who, in failing to meet Moll, leaves her open to the solicitations of the bawd, Mother Needham. In the background, the infamous rapist Francis Charteris watches the scene with interest, flanked by his pimp. To the left, a clergyman rides past, too intent on the letter he has received to save the girl from her bleak future. The inscription space reads ‘‘A Harlot’s Progress Plate 1’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 121 iv/iv, BM Satires 2031

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Plate 2: Moll, now the mistress of a wealthy Anglophile Jew, causes a distraction by kicking over a small table, allowing her young paramour to escape with the assistance of a maidservant. In the foreground, a monkey carries off Moll’s hat and a piece of lace, towards a table with a ball mask, emblematic of Moll’s false pretences. The inscription space reads ‘Plate 2’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 122 iii/iv, BM Satires 2046

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Plate 3: Moll, having been thrown out by her Jewish keeper, is forced into common prostitution in a Drury Lane brothel. She rests on a bed, holding a watch that she has presumable stolen from one of her paramours, and is attended to by her syphilitic servant while a cat playfully investigates her skirts. In the background, a witches hat and broom have replaced the earlier accoutrements of the masquerade. To the right, the Bailiffs arrive for her arrest. The inscription space reads ‘Plate 3’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 123 iii/iii, BM Satires 2061

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Plate 4: Beginning to show signs of venereal disease, Moll is now incarcerated in Bridewell, forced to beat Hemp alongside a host of gamblers, whores, and wastrels. The master of the workshop threatens her with a cane, standing before a set of stocks emblazoned with the moral ‘Better to Work than Stand Thus.’ In the foreground, her syphilitic servant hitches up her garter as another woman rids her clothing of lice. The inscription space reads ‘Plate Plate 44’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 124 iii/iii, BM Satires 2075

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Plate 5: Moll, wrapped entirely in sweating blankets, finally expires from her sickness, unobserved by the maidservant, who is busy watching the lively discussion of two quack doctors. A small boy, presumably Moll’s son, waits by the fire for his dinner, scratching at his hair, while a woman at left rifles through Moll’s belongings. The inscription space reads ‘Plate 5’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 125 iv/iv, BM Satires 2091

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Plate 6: A small crowd attend Moll’s wake, her coffin at centre. To the left, a parson disinterestedly stares into the middle distance, spilling brandy onto his lap. Moll’s servant, melancholic, rests her glass on the coffin. Meanwhile a group of Moll’s fellow harlots feign remorse, while actually busying themselves in pickpocketing an undertaker. Moll’s little boy, dressed in mourning clothes, is distractedly winding a spinning top below his mother’s coffin. The inscription space reads ‘Plate Plate 66’ with a Latin cross at centre.

Paulson 126 iii/iii, BM Satires 2106

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A RAKE’S PROGRESS

02. A Rake’s Progress William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented, Painted, & Engrav’d by Wm. Hogarth, & Publish’d June ye. 25 1735, According to Act of Parliament. [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 320 x 390 mm, Plates 355 x 410 mm, Sheets 475 x 645 mm Unmounted A complete set of eight engravings of Hogarth’s most famous moral satire, A Rake’s Progress, the successor to his highly lauded ‘Harlot’s Progress’ Progress’. Aside from its celebrated subject matter, and its crystallisation of the Rake as an iconic stock caricature in English satire, the series also occupies an important part in the history of printmaking in the British Isles, coinciding with the the passing of ‘Hogarth’s Act.’ Publication of the series was delayed by the artist in an attempt to curb the efforts of copyists, though before the passing of the law, a number of pirated editions had already appeared. The original oil paintings of the series are still extant, and are regarded as being amongst the most significant works in Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Minor waterstaining to left margin of sheets, not affecting plates or images. Small repaired tears to some margins, not affecting plates.

[46073] £1,800

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Plate 1: Tom Rakewell, newly arrived in London after returning from Oxford, takes possession of his dead father’s estate. The father, unlike his profligate son, was a notorious miser, the room bearing many indications of his penny-pinching ways. A gaunt and starving cat mewls pathetically, searching for food in a box filled with silver plate, while even a nearby Bible has not escaped Rakewell Senior’s miserliness, its leather bindings cut to mend the sole of an old boot. In the background, a hunched serving woman prepares to stoke the rarely used fireplace with a bunch of sticks, while a carpenter engaged by Tom to fix up the cornices dislodges a hidden stash of coins.

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At centre, Tom is being fitted for a new suit of clothes, appealing to the distraught Sarah Young, his former paramour, and her furious mother. Sarah is pregnant, and carries a ring, suggesting Tom has recently backed out of a promise of marriage. Behind the central group, the grizzled family lawyer takes advantage of the distraction and helps himself to the old man’s purse.

Paulson 132 iv/iv, BM Satires 2158

Plate 2: Tom, kitted out in a new suit of clothes, attends his morning levee. He is surrounded by attendants and hangers on, eager to capitalize on his liberality.

The group includes a fencing master, who stares out at the viewer, thrusting forward with his epee, as well as a scowling quarterstaff teacher, a dancing master with a tiny violin, a careworn landscape architect, a former captain presenting himself as a bodyguard, a representative of the local Hunt blowing his herald’s horn, and a jockey with a silver victory cup. To the left of the scene, a composer at a harpsichord, usually identified as Handel, practices a new opera on the ‘Rape of the Sabines.’

A discarded poem behind his chair is authored by Tom himself. The room itself is elegant, with high Georgian windows and arches, the walls decorated with rococo frames featuring a depiction of Venus and Mars, as well as a pair of fighting cocks. In the adjoining parlour, another group of attendants, including a tailor, a hatter, and a poet, awaits Tom’s attention.

Paulson 133 iii/iv, BM Satires 2173

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Plate 3: An orgy at the notorious Rose Tavern in Covent Garden sees Tom in a state of the utmost drunken excess. In the foreground, one of the prostitutes sits in her petticoats, pulling up her stockings after receiving Tom’s attention. Her dress and corset lie in a pile beside her. Tom has turned his attention to her colleague, who strokes his chest while she robs him, passing his fob watch behind his back to a waiting accomplice. Behind them, the other women of the establishment quaff and spit at each other, while the predatory madam runs her hand across the throat of one of the younger women.

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In the background, a serving woman holds a candlestick to a map of the world, preparing to set the ‘Totus Mundus’ aflame. Beside the map, a series of portraits of Roman emperors have had their faces slashed by the drunkard Tom. Only Nero is left, an allegory for Tom’s debauchery and the destructive fires, both physical and metaphorical, that he stokes with his actions.

Paulson 134 iii/iii, BM Satires 2188

Plate 4: Tom’s debts have started to catch up with him, as he is pulled from his sedan chair by a group of Welsh bailiffs, leeks in their hats and arrest warrants in their hands. Tom seems genuinely surprised, but ultimately ungrateful, for the intervention of the good-hearted Sarah Young, who pays off the bailiffs from her own earnings, a box falling from her arm suggesting she is now employed as a milliner. A lamp-lighter, distracted by the scene, accidently pours oil over Tom’s head, a perverse allusion to the Christian benediction Tom is too self-involved to appreciate.

In the foreground, a group of urchins play at cards, while one of their number picks Tom’s pockets. In the background, a lightning strike crashes above St James Palace, presaging future wickednesses and the inevitable Divine Wrath that will follow.

Paulson 135 iii/iii, BM Satires 2202

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Plate 5: At St Marylebone, Tom has found a means to settle his debts by marrying a one-eyed spinster. The marriage is conducted quickly, no doubt in an attempt

by Tom to prevent the interference of Sarah Young and her mother, who can be seen in the vestibule of the church, struggling with a servant in an attempt to object to the union. Sarah has recently been delivered of her baby. Tom, completely unconcerned by the commotion, already seems to have his eye on the attractive young servant tending to his new wife’s veil. The church itself is in a state of disrepair, the poor box clogged with cobwebs.

Paulson 136 iv/iv, BM Satires 2211

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Plate 6: In an attitude of utmost despair and desperation, Tom sinks to the floor, his newly restored wealth already squandered in a squalid gambling den.

His wig and hat have fallen to the floor. His fellow gamblers either look on with disinterest, or else are so absorbed in their games that they fail to notice that the building itself is on fire, while the proprietors behind them desperately try to put it out.

Paulson 137 iii/iii, BM Satires 2223

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Plate 7: Tom, his face set in an attitude of vacancy and dejection hinting at his coming madness, is imprisoned in the Fleet, London’s notorious debtor’s gaol. His squinting wife berates him for losing their wealth, while a beer-boy and a gaoler demand payment. Sarah Young, who still has not given up on Tom despite his faults, faints at the scene. Tom’s cellmates, meanwhile, are engaged in various schemes to escape or buy back their freedom.

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In the background, an amateur alchemist attempts to produce gold from his crucible, while a large and elaborate set of feathered wings hint at the attempts of Daedalus to escape the fabled labyrinth and the demise of his hotheaded son Icarus. The room is littered with discarded papers, including a plan for relieving the national debt, and a rejection letter for one of Tom’s plays.

Paulson 138, BM Satires 2236

Plate 8: The ďŹ nal chapter of Tom’s tragic moral lesson ends in Bedlam, Bethlehem Hospital for the insane. Tom, grinning demonically, scratches at his scalp, supported by the weeping Sarah, while an attendant checks the fetters around his ankles. They are surrounded by a host of madmen, playing instruments, dressed in motley, or simply sitting vacantly nearby. In the cells behind, one man is gripped by religious ecstacy, streams of light illuminating his makeshift cruciďŹ x, while another, naked, imagines himself a king.

Between the cells, yet another is utterly absorbed in his calculations, his chalked diagrams likely intended to represent the various attempts to improve the calculation of longitude following the Act of 1714.

Behind him, a pair of fashionable young woman in pristine dresses amusedly examine the inmates and their various quirks.

Paulson 139, BM Satires 2246

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BEFORE & AFTER

03. Before and After William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented, Engraved & Published Decbr: ye: 15th: 1736.

by Wm: Hogarth Pursuant to an Act of Parliament [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 372 x 302 mm, Plates 425 x 325 mm, Sheets 645 x 475 mm Unmounted Hogarth’s ‘Before’’ and ‘‘After,’ loosely based on two sets of paintings that Hogarth completed on the theme of ‘Before’ and ‘After,’ one series set outdoors, the other indoors. The prints were evidently regarded as pornographic, or at least too risqué, as they were frequently omitted in folios of Hogarth’s works, particularly the later printings by Boydell, and even in some of the sets produced by Mrs Hogarth following her husband’s death. Paulson explains that in the Heath edition, they are to be found at the back, concealed in an envelope.

The identification of the male lover is usually agreed to be Sir John Willes, Chief Justice of the Court of Pleas, who had a reputation as a ‘hanging judge,’ as well as being a notorious rake. Willes is also one of the subjects of Hogarth’s later painting, The Bench, and its associated print. Although usually suppressed in the Boydell editions this set, although from a Boydell folio, is inscribed below each image to the right: ‘Price two Shillings & 6 pence.’ indicating second rather than third state impressions.

Condition: Strong clean impressions with full margins.

Minor waterstaining to bottom of sheets, not affecting plate or image. Patch of insect damage to top left margin of ‘Before.’

[46067] £950

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Before: The scene is that of a lady’s bedroom. The lady, wearing skirts, a veil, and a pearl necklace, is unsuccessfully resisting the amorous advances of her excited lover, who pulls her towards the bed. His face is set in a lecherous leer, and his periwig is knocked off by the lady’s hand as she presses her palm against his face in an attempt to avoid his grasp. His right hand grabs at her skirts while his left is hooked around her waist.

In the stuggle, the lady knocks over a mirrored side table, the drawer of which opens to reveal a sermon ‘The Practice of Piety.’ A small dog yaps excitedly at the struggle, overturning the lady’s cosmetics as it jumps up at her. Next to the large, curtained, four-poster bed a frame titled ‘Before’ depicts Cupid setting off a firework, a none too subtle allusion to the man’s current predicament.

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Paulson has suggested that despite her overt display of resistance, certain clues in the image suggest that the display is actually a false show of modesty. The lady’s corset has already been removed and placed on a chair prior to her paramour’s arrival, and despite the sermon packed away in the drawer, the volume on the table, and thus the one she was reading prior to the scene, is a collection of the pornographic poems of Rochester, the notorious libertine John Wilmot.

Paulson 141 ii/iii

After: Following their romantic interlude, the enthusiasm of the couple has shifted. The lover, looking decidedly harassed and ashamed, attempts to straighten out his tousled appearance. His wig is mussed, his collar open, and his coat ruffled and unbuttoned as he attempts to do up his trousers. The lady, by contrast, cajoles him, blurry eyed, stroking his stomach and resting her head against his coatsleeves.

Another of the lady’s books, a volume of Aristotle, is open to a page that reads appropriately ‘Omne Animal Post Coitum Triste’ (’Every creature is sad after sex’). To complete the comparison, the fall of the sidetable has revealed another picture on the wall, labelled ‘‘After,’ in which Cupid coyly points to the spent firework.

Paulson 142 ii/iii

The curtain of the four-poster has been pulled down in the excitement, the mirror has completed its fall from the upturned side-table and now lies smashed at the couple’s feet, as does a chamber pot which formerly sat under the bed. The dog, worn out by all of his yapping, has curled up asleep under the chair.

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04. Before and After after William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented by Wm. Hogarth [Robert Sayer. London, 1767] Images 332 x 246 mm, Plates 260 x 360 mm, Sheets 280 x 445 mm Unmounted A pair of reduced engravings after Hogarth’s Before and After, from Robert Sayer’s Les Satyres de Guillaume Hogarth Oeuvre Moral et Comique. The plates for Les Satyres were likely engraved by John June, and published

by Sayer under the auspices of Jane Hogarth, who had been granted copyright over her late husband’s works by Act of Parliament.

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Robert Sayer (1725-1794) was a prolific English print and map seller, publisher, and engraver. Through his brother’s wife, he became the manager of the printing house of John Overton, gradually taking over the business, with a concentration on atlases, maritime charts, cartography, and accounts of travel, exploration, and navigation. Sayer is also remembered for his engravings after paintings by Johan Zoffany, and the pair grew to be lifelong friends. Sayer was succeeded on his death by Laurie and Whittle.

Condition: Trimmed close to right hand platemark of ‘Before,’ as issued. Minor scuffing and dirt staining to margins, not affecting plates or images.

[46266] £600

The FOUR TIMES of the DAY

05. The Four Times of the Day William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented Painted & Engraved by Wm. Hogarth & Publish’d March 25. 1738 according to Act of Parliament. [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 458 x 379 mm, Plates 492 x 399 mm, Sheets 645 x 475 mm Unmounted A set of 4 engravings exploring London at different times of the day and year. The paintings upon which the engravings are based were originally executed by Hogarth for the Vauxhall supper-boxes. Although issued as a series, unlike Hogarth’s Progress types, the Four Times of the Day was intended to highlight contrasts and contradictions rather than a moral narrative, focussing instead on the comparison of class and character in various parts of London.

As Paulson comments, in form the series take some inspiration from earlier allegorical series, the pastoral scenes replaced or subverted by scenes of the town, and with Hogarth’s characters acting as parodies of traditional allegorical figures. With some slight variations in word order or abbreviation, all four plates feature the publication line ‘Invented, Painted, Engrav’d, & Publish’d by Wm. Hogarth March 25 1738, according to Act of Parliament.’ Below the publication line, each plate carries a large inscription of the time of day, as below.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Minor waterstaining to bottoms of sheets, not affecting plates or images.

[46069] £1,400

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Morning: A cold, mid-winter morning in Covent Garden. The central figure, a skinny elderly woman so frigid that she alone seems unaware of the bitter chill, is a strong contrast to the traditional warm maidenly figure of Aurora one would expect in a scene of morning. Her servant, a small boy, carries her prayerbook as they make their way towards the facade of Inigo Jones’ St Pauls, his attitude one of utmost discomfort due to the cold. Before the old woman, a group of young wastrels grope each other near a beggar and a washer-woman, who warm themselves by an open fire.

Behind them, a fight has broken out in Tom King’s Coffee House. Above the street, the clock-face of the church is surmounted by the winged figure of Time, carrying a scythe and hourglass, the common symbols of the transience of life. The inscription below reads ‘Sic Transit Gloria Mundi.’

Paulson 146 ii/ii, BM Satires 2357

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Noon: At midday, a group of well-groomed French refugees file out of the Huguenot Chapel off the Charing Cross Road. The well turned out man, woman, and child are contrasted with the English group across the street. Here, before the Baptist’s Head pub, a black man fondles the breasts of a washerwoman. The boy before her has cracked the plate holding his dinner, spilling it onto the cobblestones, where an urchin girl picks through it. The street is physically divided in two by a gutter, bridged only by the carcass of a dead cat, and invites a clear contrast between the orderly, welldressed French Huguenots and the unruly natives of the parish of St Giles in the Fields, the spire of which appears in the background.

Paulson 147 ii/ii, BM Satires 2370

Evening: The scene now switches to mid-summer heat, as a married couple take an evening stroll in the countryside at Saddler’s Wells. The visibly exhausted husband holds a small child in his arms, his rotund wife cast in the character of a scold. Behind them, a young boy is bawling, his sister likewise scolding him and holding her closed fan in a threatening fashion.

The scene is one of languid heat. The dog before the couple looks down at the cool water, while the cow behind them idly flicks its tail. The position of the cow’s head serves to crown the husband with horns, perhaps insinuating that he has been cuckolded by his wife, or, as Paulson suggests, that he is made an unlikely Actaeon to an even more unlikely Diana. In addition to the publication line, this plate alone has in its right bottom corner ‘Engraved by B. Baron, Price 5 Shillings.’

Paulson 148 iii/iv, BM Satires 2382

Night: Night has fallen and the scene shows the area of Rummer Court, looking north towards Charing Cross and the bronze equestrian statue of Charles I. The statue is significant, as the bonfires and chaplets of oak suggest the Jacobite celebration of ‘Restoration Day.’ The central characters, a drunk Freemason and the doorman of his lodge, make their way past a large bonfire, which has upset the passage of a stagecoach, the ‘Salisbury Flyer.’ The outraged travellers of the coach are accosted by a pair of louts. To the left of the central pair, a family sleep under a makeshift trestle below the open window of a barber-surgeon’s shop. The shop’s sign advertises ‘Shaving Bleeding & Teeth Drawn wth a Touch’ and a client, with a look of consternation, is being shaved with a straight razor. The Freemason, still dressed in his regalia, is doused in the contents of a chamber pot, which a woman’s arm flings from a second-storey window. The usual identification of this central character is Sir Thomas De Veil, a Bow Street magistrate infamous for his enforcing of the Gin Act, and a member of Hogarth’s own Lodge.

Paulson 149 ii/ii, BM Satires 2392

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06. The Four Times of the Day after William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented and Painted by Wm. Hogarth [Robert Sayer.

London, 1767] Images 320 x 235 mm, Plates 355 x 250 mm, Sheets 445 x 280 mm Unmounted A set of 4 reduced engravings after Hogarth’s The Four Times of the Days, exploring London at different times of the day and year, from Robert Sayer’s Les Satyres de Guillaume Hogarth Oeuvre Moral et Comique. The plates for Les Satyres were likely engraved by John June, and published by Sayer under the auspices of Jane Hogarth, who had been granted copyright over her late husband’s works by Act of Parliament.

Robert Sayer (1725-1794) was a prolific English print and map seller, publisher, and engraver. Through his brother’s wife, he became the manager of the printing house of John Overton, gradually taking over the business, with a concentration on atlases, maritime charts, cartography, and accounts of travel, exploration, and navigation. Sayer is also remembered for his engravings after paintings by Johan Zoffany, and the pair grew to be lifelong friends. Sayer was succeeded on his death by Laurie and Whittle.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Minor scuffing and surface dirt to margins.

[46263] £600

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MARRIAGE A-la-MODE

07. Marriage A-la-Mode William Hogarth Copper engraving Invented, Painted, & Published by Wm. Hogarth.

According to Act of Parliament April 1st. 1745 [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 350 x 445 mm, Plates 385 x 470 mm, Sheets 480 x 645 mm Unmounted Marriage A-la-Mode was the third of Hogarth’s great ‘moral progresses’, a commentary on contemporary concerns over marriage and its exploitation. The set of six plates examines the problems arising in marriages between partners of different classes, and the actions of immoral parents in arranging partnerships for their offspring that, although financially lucrative, were morally flawed. The series is one of the most pessimistic of Hogarth’s moral satires, featuring a cast of characters completely devoid of any redeemable quality. Unlike the Harlot’s and the Rake’s stories, which focus on their destructive impacts upon the well-meaning friends and family, the main players of Marriage A-la-Mode are all inspired by differing but equally detestable motives.

As alluded to by the title, the series has a distinctively francophile bent, capitalising on popular English sentiments about aristocratic tastes for all things French, be it in art, culture, fashion, food, or sex, and of course the associated ‘French’ results of high living, syphilis, and gout. For the preparation of the plates, Hogarth even chose a team of French engravers. The original paintings, executed before his visit to Paris, are now in the National Gallery.

Condition: Strong clean impressions with full margins.

Waterstaining to left margins of sheets, not affecting images or plates. Printers crease, strengthened on verso, to left margin of Plate 1, not affecting image. Two minor marginal tears to Plate 5, not affecting plate or image.

[46314] £1,400

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Plate 1: In the elegantly decorated rooms of the cashstrapped Earl Squander, a marriage is contracted between the Earl’s son, Viscount Squanderfield, and the daughter of a wealthy merchant. The Earl, his bandaged foot a clear representation of gout, sits in a high backed chair, the mortgage he has taken out for the construction of a new grand house paid for by the merchant, who sits across the table examining the terms of the marriage contract. The Earl, unconcerned by the economic details of the marriage, points to a large depiction of his family tree, the roots of which spread from the loins of William the Conqueror.

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To the right of the scene, the two young people sit disintered. The petulant merchants daughter receives the attention of a smooth young lawyer, while her vapid fiancee stares absentmindedly at a reflection of his future rival, the black patch on his neck hinting at his hedonistic tendancies and the onset of venereal disease.

In the foreground, a pair of dogs are yoked together with a chain, while the paintings on the walls of the room all point to the betrayals, lies, and ultimately destruction, that are to follow from this loveless pairing.

Paulson 158 vi/viii, BM Satires 2688

Plate 2: With the initial excitement of the wedding over, the young couple are shown in their new lodgings, potentially the interior of the grand new house the Earl traded his son for in the first plate. Despite the superficial elegance of the room, upon closer inspection it is shown to be a hasty and poorly arranged jumble of artistic and architectural styles. The paintings range from erotica to devotional portraits of the saints, the neo-classical fireplace sits awkwardly beside a rustic german clock decorated with oriental figures, and the overly large rug has had to be cut and rolled to fit in the room.

The surroundings emphasize the mismatched nature of the couple’s marriage. They sit apart, on opposite sides of the fire. He, a dissolute nobleman, her, an inelegant commoner. Her lap dog snifs at a bonnet in the husbands pocket, a suggestion of his infidelities earlier in the evening. His wife meanwhile sits with corset unlaced, spread-legged and with her hair tussled.

The presence of multiple violin cases and an upturned chair suggest a hasty exit by at least one additional figure upon the husband’s return. A harried older servant carries off the family accounts in despair, while another yawns expressively while righting a chair in the parlour.

Paulson 159 v/v, BM Satires 2702

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Plate 3: In Dr. Misaubin’s ‘museum’ on St Martin’s Lane, the wastrel husband amicably threatens the quack doctor with his walking stick, holding out a pillbox that probably once contained an ineffective cure-all for the young man’s syphilis. Squanderfield is flanked by his diminutive mistress, who holds a handkerchief to her lip, and an infuriated prostitute, potentially the source of his syphilis. He seems utterly unconcerned by his predicament, or for the well-being of his companions, despite the conspicuous skull on the apothecary’s desk that shows the telltall signs of the disease in its advanced stages.

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The room itself is a veritable wunderkammer of scientific and natural history curiosities, including a stuffed crocodile and ostrich egg, a wolfs head, a pair of mummies and their cases, blocks of tea, a narwhal horn, various ethnographic items, an articulated skeleton, and a collection of scientific and alchemical instruments.

Paulson 160 iii/iii , BM Satires 2717

Plate 4: While her husband philanders, the newly elevated Countess Squander enjoys her free time at the levee of a fellow nobleman’s wife. Time has obviously passed, and with it, the grooming and demeanour of the young lady, whose time in the company of aristocrats has raised her from her previous crassness. Her enraptured partner is the same young lawyer from plate one, who obviously has designs on the Countess and invites her to meet him at an upcoming masquerade.

On the ground before them, a young black servant in Oriental costume points knowingly at the horns of a statue of Actaeon, hinting at the cuckold’s horns that the Earl will soon wear. The rest of the party, in dandy French costume, listen to a castrato performing in the corner.

Paulson 161 iv/iv, BM Satires 2731

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Plate 5: The moral tragedy begins its final act in a shabby bagnio known as the Turk’s Head, as the Earl has forced the door after following his wife and the lawyer Silvertongue. The lovers have been caught in flagrante delicto and the result is a duel in which the Earl is fatally wounded. He is depicted at centre in the middle of his fall, a bleeding wound in his chest, while the Countess falls to her knees in horror and apology beside him.

Paulson describes the scene as a parody of Christ on the cross, with the weeping Madgalene at his feet.

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The owner of the bagnio bursts into the room, along with a watchman, attitudes of shock on their faces.

Silvertongue, too late to avoid detection, his masquerade costume abandoned on the floor, leaps out a window to escape. A large and badly worn tapestry on the wall behind the scene shows the Judgement of Solomon, a groteque parody of which has just been played out by the Countess and her two courtiers.

Paulson 162 v/v, BM Satires 2744

Plate 6: The finale sees the death of the unfortunate Countess, in the austere rooms of her spendthrift father.

A discarded laudanum bottle at her feet speaks to the method of her suicide, prompted by the execution of her lover, Silvertongue. Beside the bottle, a transcript of his final speech is topped by the iconic triple gallows of Tyburn. An aged serving-woman holds her child, a sickly bandy-legged girl with a black spot on her cheek, a grim suggestion of congenital syphilis. The death of the young Earl in the previous plate and the appearance of his daughter points to the extinguished line of the family-proud Squander. Despite the young womans death, none of the other figures show any remorse.

Her father astutely removes the rings from his daughter’s fingers before the onset of rigor mortis. A doctor makes a hasty exit, while the apothecary berates a dim-witted servant. The room is the polar opposite of the old Earl’s grand parlour, sparsely furnished with bare floors, the walls decorated with low-class Dutch genre scenes. A starving dog picks at a hog’s head on the table, while an open cuphoard reveals the merchants account ledgers.

Paulson 163 iii/iii, BM Satires 2758

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INDUSTRY & IDLENESS

08. Industry and Idleness William Hogarth Copper engraving Designed & Engrav’d by Wm. Hogarth. Publish’d according to Act of Parliament 30 Sept. 1747 [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790].

Images 260 x 335 mm, Plates 265 x 348 mm, Sheets 645 x 480 mm Unmounted A set of twelve plates over six sheets, printed as a pair per sheet, Industry and Idleness was intended by Hogarth as a moral instruction for young apprentices, and a demonstration of the fortune that attends a life of diligence as opposed to a life of dissolution. Hogarth’s autobiographic notes indicate that the set was engraved in a much more simplistic style when compared to his earlier, and economically taxing, Marriage-A-la-Mode, to facilitate a much cheaper and larger print run in an effort for broader dissemination. Contemporary commentary seems to suggest that Hogarth’s hopes were realised, with the series becoming a popular gift from Masters to their Apprentices, particularly at Christmas.

Compositionally, the plates are much more direct in their subject and message than some of Hogarth’s other morally instructive series, and unambiguously accompanied by relevant Biblical passages drawn mostly from Proverbs and Leviticus. Francis Goodchild, the Industrious apprentice, is usually located on the right of each scene, surrounded by symbols of order, forthrightness, and success, whereas his idle counterpart, the appropriately named Tom Idle, appears at left, usually in an environment which is chaotic, unbalanced, or base. Subversively, the manner in which the series would be read would depend on the viewer’s position in life. As Paulson notes, Masters would no doubt see the series as a moral lesson, holding up the bland Goodchild as an exemplar, while their apprentices would be far more likely to side with Tom Idle, seeing him as a victim of circumstance.

Condition: Strong clean impressions with full margins.

Repaired tear to bottom margin of second sheet, to platemark of Plate 4.

[46355] £1,000 45

Plate 1: Two young apprentices are contrasted in the workrooms of a local merchant. One, Tom Idle, rests with his head against a support bar of his loom, his work abandoned. A large tankard locates the scene as Spittlefields. His ‘Prentices Guide’ lies abandoned on the floor, its bindings gone and its pages torn. A cat plays with his unused spindle. In comparison, his fellow apprentice, Francis Goodchild, is hard at work, his face a picture of benign classical beauty. Their Master, the wealthy Mr West, enters the room, a look of frustration on his face as he surveys the lazy Tom, his stick held menacingly in the air.

Paulson 168 ii/ii, BM Satires 2896

Plate 2: Goodchild attends Sunday mass at St-Martin’sin-the-Fields, singing from the hymnal of his master’s daughter. The scene is one of harmony and order, the well kept prentice matched by the architectural unity of his surroundings.

Paulson 169 ii/ii, BM Satires 2905

Plate 3: Tom Idle, meanwhile, loiters in a Churchyard, avoiding mass to gamble with a team of fellow wastrels.

One of them, a one-eyed fellow in a striped cap, will later become one of Tom’s criminal running-buddies.

Tom attempts to cheat the others by holding his hat over part of the money, stretching out on the grave in an act of dramatic foreshadowing. Likewise, a dishevelled shoe-shine stands on a set of boards over a newly dug grave, skulls and bones cast around the central group.

A local beadle holds his cudgel above his head, ready to drive off the shabby crowd before him.

Paulson 170 ii/ii, BM Satires 2914

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Plate 4: Time has moved forward, and the industrious prentice has been rewarded with higher duties. He has moved from the looms to keeping accounts for his master. To the left of the scene, a porter wearing the arms of the City of London carries rolls of fabric, accompanied by a scrappy dog that barks at the workshop cat.

Paulson 171 ii/ii, BM Satires 2926

Plate 5: The idle apprentice is an apprentice no longer, having been cast out by his Master for his lack of work ethic. Instead he has been ‘put to sea’ and is shown in a rowboat with his possessions in a case. His compatriots make fun of him, pointing out the gallows as a threat for misbehavior. Tom, uncowed, throws the cuckolds horns at them in an act of defiance.

Paulson 172 iii/iii, BM Satires 2935

Plate 6: Goodchild has now finished his apprenticeship, and as well as being listed as a partner in his Master’s firm, is now married to the Master’s daughter. The scene takes place on the day after their wedding, where the newlyweds distribute largess from the window of their house to an assembled crowd of drummers and wellwishers.

Paulson 173 iv/v, BM Satires 2945

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Plate 7: Where Goodchild has made a man of himself, married, and is now living in security and peace, Tom Idle’s career at sea has also been a failure. With no profession or wealth of his own, he has taken to the life of the highwayman, and here seeks solice in the garret of a common whore. He has barricaded the door to protect himself, but is startled by a cat, which crashes down the chimney in pursuit of a rat. Tom’s prostitute, meanwhile, is more interested in his takings than his concerns, and helps herself to a pair of earrings.

Paulson 174 ii/ii, BM Satires 2954

Plate 8: Francis Goodchild is now a Sheriff of London, honoured in a large banqueting hall, probably intended to represent the Guildhall. Goodchild and his wife sit below a large portrait of William III, while a statue in a niche to the left of the scene represents Sir William Walworth, the Lord Mayor of London reputed to have struck down and killed Wat Tyler, thus effectively ending the Peasant’s Revolt.

Paulson 175 ii/ii, BM Satires 2963

Plate 9: Tom Idle’s whore has sold him out and called the Watch to arrest him and his accomplice, the oneeyed man from the graveyard in Plate 3. The men are caught red-handed, dividing up the spoils while the murder victim is shoved down a trapdoor.

Paulson 176 iii/iv, BM Satires 2971

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Plate 10: The heavy foreshadowing of the previous plates finds its conclusion in the courts, where Tom is dragged before Goodchild, now an Alderman. His accomplice sells him out with false confession, leaving Goodchild to pass the verdict of death upon his former colleague.

Paulson 177 ii/ii, BM Satires 2980

Plate 11: Tom, repentant at his final hour, is brought to the gallows at Tyburn for his execution. A huge and unruly crowd has gathered, some of whom fight with each other in the foreground. One man prepares to hurl a dog at the Methodist preacher attending the condemned. At centre, a shabby matron with a baby in her arms advertises copies of Idle’s ‘Last Dying Speech and Confession.’

Paulson 178 iii/iii, BM Satires 2989

Plate 12: The conclusion of the series sees the Industrious Prentice, Francis Goodchild, invested as Mayor of London. Another large and unruly crowd gathers, a timely reminder that the same people who celebrate your highs of fortune will happily watch you hang in that same fortune’s lowest ebb.

Paulson 179 iii/iii, BM Satires 2997

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BEER STREET & GIN LANE

09. Beer Street / Gin Lane after William Hogarth Copper engraving Design’d by Wm. Hogarth [Robert Sayer. London, 1767] Images 312 x 236 mm, Plates 352 x 250 mm, Sheets 445 x 280 mm Unmounted A pair of reduced engravings after Hogarth’s Beer Street and Gin Lane, his most famous moral engravings, from Robert Sayer’s Les Satyres de Guillaume Hogarth Oeuvre Moral et Comique. The plates for Les Satyres were likely engraved by John June, and published by Sayer under the auspices of Jane Hogarth, who had been granted copyright over her late husband’s works by Act of Parliament.

The prints were first designed and issued in February 1751, and, like the Four Stages of Cruelty series that followed, engraved in a much heavier wood-cut style and sold cheaply in order to attract the widest possible dissemination. Hogarth was inspired by growing concerns about the role of gin-fueled social degeneration in the capital, following the relaxation in 1743 of the taxes and license charges associated with the sale of gin in England. At the time, gin was still a relatively new and ‘foreign’ drink, and its cheap and widespread availability was seen as a major cause for drunkenness among the lower classes, and in turn, the rapid rise in crime.

Hogarth’s prints, with their figures closely modelled on Breughel’s La Cuisine Maigre and La Cuisine Grasse, contained a strong moral message, that beer was the drink of success, and gin the drink of ruin. Less than six months after the publication of Beer Street and Gin Lane, the Gin Act was passed, drastically limiting the availability of gin and more than doubling the tax on its importation and distilling.

Robert Sayer (1725-1794) was a prolific English print and map seller, publisher, and engraver. Through his brother’s wife, he became the manager of the printing house of John Overton, gradually taking over the business, with a concentration on atlases, maritime charts, cartography, and accounts of travel, exploration, and navigation. Sayer is also remembered for his engravings after paintings by Johan Zoffany, and the pair grew to be lifelong friends. Sayer was succeeded on his death by Laurie and Whittle.

Condition: Strong impressions with full margins.

Repaired tear to bottom left margin of ‘Beer Street’ not affecting plate or image.

[46264] £700

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Beer Street: The hale, hearty, and joyful residents of London take their leisure on Beer Street, with the City flourishing around them. In the foreground, a group of jolly and rotund characters sit around a table outside a tavern called the Barley Mow. The three men, a butcher, a blacksmith, and a pavior, hold massive flagons of foaming ale. On the table between them is a transcript of the Kings Speech, dating the scene to the King’s Birthday and giving cause for the celebrations which take place in the scene. The blacksmith holds aloft a massive haunch of ham, while the pavior, resting on his rammer, seduces a serving girl.

Two fishwives with baskets of fish read a pamphlet of Herrings penned by Hogarth’s friend, John Lockman.

Behind the figures in the foreground are the only signs of decay in the scene. Up a ladder, a thin and tattered artist paints an advertisement for gin on the tavern sign, unobserved by the crowd who are far more interested in their beer.

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Across the street, the recent prosperity of the city has driven the appropriately named Pinch the Pawnbroker to near destitution, his building in a state of obvious disrepair. In the background, two sedan-chair attendants drop their burden, a corpulent woman, to quaff a few refreshments at The Sun tavern, while a group of builders above the tavern on a scaffold, wave their hats in honour of the King.

Below the scene, a short moral poem reads: Beer, happy Produce of our Isle, Can sinewy Strength impart, And wearied with Fatigue and Toil, Can chear each manly Heart. Labour and Art upheld by Thee, Successfully advance, We quaff Thy balmy Juice with Glee, And Water leave to France. Genius of Health, they grateful Taste, Rivals the Cup of Jove, And warms each English generous Breast, With Liberty and Love.

Gin Lane: In Gin Lane, the scene is one of the utmost desperation and degeneration. The malnourished, crazed, and evil denizens reside in a landscape wracked by poverty and ruin. Front and centre is the most famous emblem of the dangers of Gin. A drunken and syphilitic woman rests on some stairs, her tattered blouse open to show her bare breasts, her teeth missing, and her legs covered in sores. In her drunken state, she reaches for some snuff, oblivious to the child that falls from her arms to its death.

At the bottom of the stairs, an emaciated itinerant poet has collapsed and is perhaps already dead. He has sold most of his clothes to buy gin, and his only possessions are an empty bottle and a pamphlet entitled ‘The Downfall of Mdm. Gin.’ A dog rests against him, and in the bottom left corner can be seen the dank entrance to a gin shop, promising over the lintel ‘Drunk for a Penny, Dead Drunk for two pence, Clean Straw for Nothing Nothing.’

On the terrace above the Gin Royal tavern, a starving woman fights a dog to gnaw a bone, while a carpenter sells his coat and saw to the Pawnbroker. In contrast to Beer Street, the only signs of success in the scene are the very same Pinch the Pawnbroker, now in his element, the Kilman Distillery across the street, and the undertaker, who, more than anyone else, benefits from the utter devastation surrounding them.

Below the scene, a short moral poem reads: Gin cursed Fiend, with Fury fraught, Makes human Race a Prey; It enters by a deadly Draught, And steals our Life away.

Virtue and Truth, driv’n to Despair, It’s Rage compells to fly, But cherishes, with hellish Care, Theft, Murder, Perjury.

Damn’d Cup! That on the Vitals preys, That liquid Fire contains, Which Madness to the Heart conveys, And rolls it thro’ the Veins.

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The FOUR STAGES of CRUELTY

10. The Four Stages of Cruelty William Hogarth Copper engraving and etching Design’d by W. Hogarth. Published according to Act of Parliament Feb. 1. 1751. Price 1s. [J & J Boydell c.1795] Images 355 x 295 mm, Plates 388 x 320 mm, Sheets 588 x 435 mm Unmounted Another of Hogarth’s ‘moral progress’ series, in a similar vein to his famous Rake and Harlot Harlot, this set of four examining the progress of Cruelty. The central character, Tom Nero, is a ward of the parish of St. Giles. Left to his own devices, and without proper moral instruction, the plates in the series show in visceral detail the development of cruelty in the young man, beginning with the tormenting and torture of animals in his youth, to hardheartedness as a young man, to murder as an adult, and finally to the aftermath of his execution at Tyburn, where justice will inflict its own cruelties on Nero’s corpse. The series was intended to shock and provoke, and for this purpose, Hogarth intended to have the series produced as woodcuts, to reduce production costs in an attempt to acheive wider circulation.

Owing to financial restraints, only the last two plates in the series Cruelty in Perfection and the Reward of Cruelty were produced in woodcut. Hogarth himself described the series, particularly the first plate, as being done in as ‘strong a manner as the most stony heart were ment to be effected by them.’ Animal cruelty was rife in Hogarth’s London, and in the eyes of many moralists, was a leading cause of social and moral decay. Tom’s surname, Nero, was clearly intended to play upon popular imaginings of the notorious cruelty of the Roman Emperor, and warn society as a whole that the cruel ‘games’ of boys could have murderous consequences.

Condition: Strong impressions with full margins.

Light foxing and manuscript numbers to margins, not affecting images or plates. Small repaired puncture to bottom left of The Reward of Cruelty.

[38103] £800

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First Stage of Cruelty: In a London street, young boys engage in numerous acts of animal torture and cruelty. The central character of the series, Tom Nero, distinguished by a badge reading St. G. (St Giles) prepares to skewer a dog with an arrow, while his fellow hold the dog in place. A ‘youth of gentler Heart’ desperately tries to save the dog, offering Tom his tart in exchange for the dog’s life. Below Tom’s group, another boy ties a bone to another dog’s tail, while a pair of youths play ‘throwing at cocks,’ one holding a rooster while the other takes aim with a stick. On the balustrade, two boys blind a pigeon with a wire they have heated in a flaming brand, while a group of boys have tied a pair of cats to a lamp-post by their tails and encourage them to fight.

In the distance, a cat is flung out of an upstairs window, a pair of makeshift wings having been tied around its middle. To Tom Nero’s left, another boy draws a picture of a gallows on the wall with charcoal, predicting the protagonist’s eventual fate by captioning his drawing with Tom’s name. A poem in twelve lines captions the image: ‘While various Scenes of sportive Woe / The Infant Race employ, / And Tortured Victims bleeding shew / The Tyrant in the Boy. / Behold! a youth of gentler Heart, / To spare the Creature’s pain / O take, he cries - take all my Tart, / But Tears and Tart are vain. / Learn from this fair Example - You / Whom savage Sports delight, / How Cruelty disgusts the view / While Pity charms the sight.’

Paulson 187 i/ii, BM Satires 3147

Second Stage of Cruelty: Tom Nero’s youth has hardened his heart, and thus he continues his cruel treatment of animals now without thought or conscience. A team of overweight barristers have overloaded a coach in their efforts to save money on the fare. The coach-horse has collapsed under the burden, and the coach has overturned. Tom, at centre, bludgeons the wounded horse with a club. The only ‘gentleman’ in the plate looks on in horror, writing down Tom’s details in a ledger to report him. In the background are more scenes of exploitation and unconscious or ingrained cruelty. A herdsman, having driven his flock too hard to market, has clubbed a sheep that has fallen in her exhaustion.

A sleeping merchant, resting against his barrels, fails to notice the small boy that his cart has run down. An overladen donkey is being goaded by a man with a twopronged fork, and a bull-baiting has drawn a crowd in the distance. Posters on the walls of the street advertise other examples of institutionalised cruelty, including a cock fight and a boxing match between pugilists James Field and George Taylor. A poem in twelve lines captions the image: ‘The generous Steed in hoary Age / Subdu’d by Labour lies; / And mourns a cruel Master’s rage, / While Nature Strength denies. / The tender Lamb o’er drove and faint, Amidst expiring Throws; / Bleats forth it’s innocent complaint / And dies beneath the Blows. / Inhuman Wretch! say whence proceeds / This coward Cruelty? / What Int’rest springs from barb’rous deeds? / What Joy from Misery?

Misery?’

Paulson 188 i/ii, BM Satires 3153

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Cruelty in Perfection: Tom Nero’s cruelty has finally reached its apogee in a cold and seemingly premeditated murder. The scene is set in a graveyard, the time on the church-tower’s clock is 1am. Tom has been apprehended by an angry mob, standing above the body of a heavily pregnant maidservant. He is bald-headed and wears a highwayman’s jacket with a pistol in his coat-pocket.

One man, holding up the bloody knife, questions Tom, while another turns out his pockets, revealing a number of stolen fob-watches.

An open letter lies on the ground at the dead girl’s feet, revealing that out of love for Tom, she has agreed to meet him at the graveyard, having brought her mistress’s valuables with her. Her case lies open next to a sack containing silverware, one of her books open to a page reading ‘God’s Revenge against Murder.’ A poem in twelve lines captions the image: ‘To lawless Love when once betray’d, / Soon Crime to Crime succeeds: / At length beguil’d to Theft, the Maid / By her Beguiler bleeds. / Yet learn, seducing Man! nor Night, / With all its sable Cloud, / Can screen the guilty Deed from Sight; / Foul Murder cries aloud. / The gaping Wounds, and blood-stain’d Steel, / Now shock his trembling Soul; / But Oh! what Pangs his Breast must feel, / When Death his Knell shall toll.’

Paulson 189 i/ii, BM Satires 3159

The Reward of Cruelty: Tom Nero’s murder has been ‘rewarded’ with hanging at Tyburn, and his cruelty has earned him the punishment of having his body dissected by a College of Surgeons. Only a year after the production of this print, the passing of the ‘Murder Act’ made dissection an official penalty for those convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Tom’s body, the noose still affixed around his neck, is laid out naked on a dissection table. The surgeons, wearing mortarboards and robes, observe as Tom’s left eye is gouged out. Another surgeon, his sleeves rolled up, opens Tom’s abdomen with a large knife, having been instructed by the chief surgeon, who demonstrates the incision with a large pointer while still seated on his high-backed chair.

Another man assists in the removal of Tom’s organs, pulling out his intestine into a large barrel, while a younger man prepares to make an incision at Tom’s ankle. In the corner, a large cauldron is boiling bones in preparation for mounting, a fate that has already been bestowed on James Field, the pugilist from Plate 2, whose skeleton has been articulated and displayed in a niche in the background. At the very middle centre, a stray dog eats Tom’s heart, poetically ending the cycle that began with Tom’s torturing of a dog in Plate 1. A poem in twelve lines captions the image: ‘Behold the Villain’s dire disgrace! / Not Death itself can end. / He finds no peaceful Burial Place; / His breathless Corpse, no friend. / Torn from the Root, that wicked Tongue, / Which daily swore and curst! / Those Eyeballs, from their Sockets wrung, / That glow’d with lawless Lust! / His Heart, expos’d to prying Eyes, / To Pity has no Claim; / But, dreadful! from his Bones shall rise, / His Monument of Shame.’

Paulson 190 i/ii, BM Satires 3166

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11. The Four Stages of Cruelty after William Hogarth Copper engraving Design’d by Wm. Hogarth [Robert Sayer. London, 1767] Images 330 x 250 mm, Plates 360 x 260 mm, Sheets 445 x 280 mm Unmounted A set of four reduced engravings after Hogarth’s Four Stages of Cruelty, from Robert Sayer’s Les Satyres de Guillaume Hogarth Oeuvre Moral et Comique. The plates for Les Satyres were likely engraved by John June, and published by Sayer under the auspices of Jane Hogarth, who had been granted copyright over her late husband’s works by Act of Parliament.

Robert Sayer (1725-1794) was a prolific English print and map seller, publisher, and engraver. Through his brother’s wife, he became the manager of the printing house of John Overton, gradually taking over the business, with a concentration on atlases, maritime charts, cartography, and accounts of travel, exploration, and navigation. Sayer is also remembered for his engravings after paintings by Johan Zoffany, and the pair grew to be lifelong friends. Sayer was succeeded on his death by Laurie and Whittle.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Minor scuffing to margins, not affecting plates or images.

[46265] £450

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The ANALYSIS of BEAUTY

12. The Analysis of Beauty William Hogarth Copper engraving Designed, Engraved, and Publish’d by Wm. Hogarth, March 5th 1753, according to Act of Parliament. [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 370 x 490 mm, Plates 390 x 505 mm, Sheets 435 x 588 mm Unmounted A pair of plates published alongside Hogarth’s Analysis of Beauty, and numbered accordingly as the illustrations for his text. The prints were advertised by Hogarth as being ‘‘fit to frame for Furniture,’ and it appears that this was exactly how they were received by Hogarth’s public, with seemingly very few originally bound into the work as would normally have been intended.

The pair of prints are illustrative of both the comical and the serious, with the first illustrating the reception of classical artistic models and their application, and the second a thorough demonstration of Hogarth’s serpentine ‘Line of Beauty.’

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

Waterstaining and minor surface dirt to margins and edges of sheets, not affecting images or plates.

[46313] £550

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Plate 1: Plate 1 is set in the statuary yard of John Cheere at Hyde Park Corner. The yard features modern copies of the greatest masterworks of classical sculpture, including the Medici Venus, the Laocoon, the Farnese Hercules, and the Belvedere Torso, Antinous, and Apollo. Many of these are contrasted humerously by modern ďŹ gures or artiďŹ ces. Venus is mirrored by a fat judge in robe and periwig, who stands upon a pedestal.

A foppish dancing master attempts to correct the posture of the contrapposto statue of Antinous, the lover of Hadrian.

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A sketch of the leg musculature of the Farnese Hercules is contrasted with a crudely-made wooden leg, while an artist compares the schematic drawing of a torso by Durer, to the idealised Belvedere torso so beloved by Michelangelo. Surrounding the scene are numbered boxes, each demonstrating aspects of the Analysis.

Paulson 195 iii/iii, BM Satires 3217

Plate 2: In Plate 2, Hogarth demonstrates the various used of line, curve, an angle in developing character and conveying visual message. The scene is a ballroom, where numerous couples are participating in a formal line dance. The couple at extreme left are the perfection of Hogarth’s ideals of grace and beauty. The other couples are demonstrations and variations of movement and shape. Above them, the statues and illustrations of different figures of English history represent the changes in aesthetic and artistic message. The statues include those of Henry VIII, Edward VI, Elizabeth, and a medieval monarch, perhaps Alfred. Between these are paintings, of Charles I, the Duchess of Wharton, and the Duke of Marlborough.

To the right of the image, a figural group includes a cuckolded husband, whose wife accepts a note from her young lover. Like Plate 1, the scene is bordered with numbered boxes which demonstrate Hogarth’s theories of Line, including a particularly appropriate depiction of Sancho Panza in the comic posture of surprise, observing the brazen behaviour of the wife and her cuckolded husband.

Paulson 196 iii/iii, BM Satires 3226

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Four PRINTS of an ELECTION

13. Four Prints of an Election William Hogarth Copper engraving Published 24th Feb.ry 1755, as the Act directs. [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 400 x 536 mm, Plates 434 x 555 mm, Sheets 459 x 606 mm Unmounted William Hogarth’s Four Prints of an Election satirises the notorious Oxfordshire election of 1754. Two years prior, the Whiggish party, who already held a large majority in Parliament, decided that they would contest the Oxfordshire seats. The Conservatives were the hegemonic force, and the seats had not been challenged since 1710. This heralded a two year campaign trail for both parties which was characterised by unprecedented levels of expenditure, bribery and corruption. Begun in 1754, and sold to David Garrick, the original paintings are now housed in Sir John Soane’s Museum.

Owing to the returning officer’s decision to call a double return, and thus leave the judgement to the House of Commons, by the time that the Whig candidates were elected on the 23rd of April 1755, Hogarth had already released the first engraving to subscribers.

Condition: Strong clean impressions with full margins.

Large repaired tear, and associated creasing to margins, to Plate 1. Minor time toning and insect damage to edges of sheets, not affecting plates or images.

[46311] £800

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Plate 1. An Election Entertainment Hogarth’s ‘An Election Entertainment’ depicts a feast hosted by the Whigs as they champion their party for parliament. The Tory opposition parade outside, and advocate trivial issues such as their opposition to the Jewish Naturalisation Act of 1753, the Marriage Act, and the Gregorian Calendar. The two Whig candidates are surrounded by an assembly of drunken characters.

An obese and toothless woman embraces the younger of the candidates to the left. A man sets his wig afire, whilst a small girl steals a ring from his finger. To the near right, a gentleman with scratches on his face lets smoke from his pipe blow into the other candidate’s eye.

Elsewhere, a clergyman, believed to be Dr. James Cosserat of Exeter College, removes his wig to wipe his sweating head. A large, reclining man is being bled by a barber-surgeon to relieve him of the effects caused by a surfeit of oysters. In the foreground, a butcher pours gin on the scalp-wound of Teague Carter, an Oxford fighter who was employed as an electoral ruffian. To his right, another head trauma ensues as the candidates’ agent is struck by a Tory brick. His open book displays two columns; one side is marked ‘sure votes,’ the other, ‘Doubtfull.’ In the background, a portrait of William III has been slashed.

Paulson 198 viii/viii. BM Satires 3285

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Plate 2. Canvassing for Votes ‘Canvassing for Votes’ was engraved by Charles Grignion the Elder. It is a more rural scene, and shows an alehouse on the left, whilst two inns appear to the right. The allegiance of the first is Whig, the second is Tory. The inn in the background is the Whig stronghold. Its title, ‘The Excise Office’ alludes to Walpole’s Excise Bill of 1733. Walpole later dropped the tax, but it remained political fodder for his opponents.

Hence why a Conservative mob besieges the building, though the man sawing the excise sign seems unaware that it will drop on his fellow rioters.

The inn in the foreground is a Tory headquarter, as ‘The Royal Oak’ recalls Conservative support for the Stuart monarchy. In the centre, a young country gentleman is bribed by agents of both parties. The pose of the group comedically mimics the Choice of Hercules, though the route proposed is far from virtuous. To the right of him, hypocrisy abounds. The Tories fiercely opposed the Jewish Bill, yet the merchant from whom a portly candidate buys trinkets for ladies on the balcony is clearly of Jewish descent. On the left, two veterans sit under an alehouse sign which states ‘Tobello.’ This refers to The Battle of Porto Bello, a celebrated naval excursion in 1739 in which Admiral Vernon captured the Spanish settlement. This is steeped in irony however, for the most recent naval battle in British history was the humiliating loss of Minorca in 1756. Subtle allusions are made to this disparity in naval strength.

The banner which partly obscures the Royal Oak states ‘Punch Candidate for Guzzledown’, and depicts the Treasury being emptied of money that the candidate throws at voters. The panel above shows where the money would have been better spent; the armed forces.

In addition to this, a wooden effigy of the British Lion attempts to eat the Fleur-de-lis on the right hand-side.

The Lion is toothless, though Hogarth’s comment is pointed. The plate is dedicated to Charles Hanbury Williams, Ambassador to the Court of Russia.

Charles Grignion the Elder (1721 - 1810) was a British engraver and draughtsman. He trained under Hubert Francois Gravelot, before working in Paris for J. P. Le Bas. Upon his return to London in 1738, Grignion worked of his own accord. His skills in draughtmanship and purity of line meant that Grignion was a popular book illustrator. He produced engravings for Walpole’s ‘‘Anecdotes Anecdotes of Painting Painting,’,’ Smolett’s ‘History of England England,’ as well as Dalton’s ‘‘Antique Statues.’ Hogarth thought very highly of Grignion, and commissioned him on several occassions, as did Stubbs, who is thought to have initially wanted Grignion to engrave the plates for ‘The Anatomy of a Horse.’

Paulson 199 vi/vi, BM Satires 3298 67

Plate 3. The Polling François Morellon de la Cave was the engraver that Hogarth chose to work on the third plate of the series, ‘The Polling.’ The scene depicts a polling station on the day of election. The two candidates are seated in a pavilion as ailing bodies are brought forward to vote.

In the centre, a gentleman, clearly in mental distress is being urged onward. Behind him, a dying man wears the ‘True Blue’ cap of the Whigs as he is assisted by a man with a carbuncular nose, and another without any at all. A further blind man tries to navigate the stairs, as does a man on crutches. The first voter, isolated and on the left, is an old soldier who has lost various limbs.

As he takes the oath with his hook, the clerk bursts into laughter, whilst lawyers behind him appear to argue over the validity of such an act. The soldiers pocket is marked with the words ‘Militia Bill.’ This refers to an act passed

by William Pitt in 1757 which permitted the drafting of Englishmen to supplement the army. Hogarth again appears to suggest that the money squandered on electoral bribery should have been applied to arms.

Consequently, maimed veterans must be employed to defend the nation.

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Elsewhere, a coach bearing the sign of the Union Flag has collapsed, and its female passenger, the allegorical figure of Britannia, is unable to gain the attention of her coachmen as they are absorbed in a card game. The plate is dedicated to Edward Walpole, son of Sir Robert, and Knight of the Bath.’

François Morellon de la Cave (1706 - 1766; fl.) was a printmaker of French origin. Born in Amsterdam, de la Cave later became a student of Bernard Picart shortly after the latter had emmigrated to The Netherlands.

Whilst here, he was largely involved in book illustration and engraved a Dutch edition of Voltaire’s ‘La Henriade.’ The date of his move to London is unknown, but he engraved a perspective of the rotunda in the Ranelagh Gardens in Chelsea at least a decade before his employment by Hogarth.

Paulson 200 iii/iii, BM Satires 3309

Plate 4. Chairing the Members ‘Chairing the Members’ was engraved, under Hogarth’s supervision, by François Antoine Aveline. It shows two newly-elected members of parliament as they are paraded by their constituents on chairs. The first is a representation of George Bubb Doddington, whilst the other is only visible as a shadow on a distant wall. The irony being that Doddington was the only prominent politician to be defeated in the 1754 election, as he lost his seat for Bridgewater, which he had represented for thirty years. The precarious tipping of Doddington’s chair may well allude to this displacement. The politician is surrounded by a melee of chaotic characters.

Two chimney boys sit on a church wall. Next to them, a black serving woman’s face contorts in horror as the rifle of a monkey discharges near them. Elsewhere, a dancing-bear interferes with a donkey’s load as the driver draws his club. Another man swings a flail, whilst a soldier to the right is stripped to the waist taking tobacco from a wrapper. A sow and her piglets up-end a woman as they charge across the street.

High above, a goose flies, and displays a striking resemblance to the profile of the victorious politician.

Ronald Paulson writes that Hogarth intended this as a bathetic parody of the triumphal processions in which an eagle flies over the hero’s head. The zoomorphic figure of a goose was also a popular trope in caricatures of the time and The Duke of Newcastle was often represented in this form. The plate is dedicated to George Hay, a supporter of Pitt who was re-elected to parliament in July 1757 as a member for Calne.

François Antoine Aveline (1718 - 1762; fl.) was a French printmaker. He was born in Paris in 1718, and was the cousin and pupil of Pierre Aveline. He moved to London in 1750, and impressed Hogarth soon after.

In addition to his commissions, Aveline was a prolific book illustrator, and from 1752, he taught in the Foulis Academy in Glasgow.

Paulson 201 iii/iii, BM Satires 3318

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The INVASION

14. France Plate 1st, England Plate 2nd [The Invasion] William Hogarth Copper engraving Design’d & Etch’d by Wm. Hogarth, Publish’ d according to Act of Parliament March 8th, 1756. [John & Josiah Boydell, London 1790] Images 290 x 376 mm, Plates 321 x 390 mm, Sheets 435 x 588 mm Unmounted

Each was accompanied by twelve lines of verse penned

by Hogarth’s friend and the greatest actor of the age, David Garrick. The prints differed from others of the time by their show of morale and optimism in a social climate that was decidedly panicked and defeatist.

Condition: Excellent impressions with full margins.

[46312] £475

A pair of propaganda prints initially executed at the outbreak of the Seven Years War in 1756. In response to a feared invasion of England by France, Hogarth completed two views to show the comparative state of affairs in the two countries.

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France, Plate 1st: A seaside town shows the preparations for an imminent invasion of Britain. In the background, ranks of French soldiers are unwillingly boarding a warship, goaded up the gangplank by their officers with large sticks. In the foreground is a tavern, advertising ‘Soup Meagre a la Sabot Royal’ on a sign, from which an old shoe hangs on a hook. Outside the tavern, a motley group of starving and dejected French soldiers are being exhorted by their captain, who roasts a string of frogs on his sword over a bonfire and gestures to a flag that reads ‘Vengence et le Bon Bier et Bon Beuf de Angleterre.’ In front of this group, an evil-looking monk tests the edge of his axe with his forefinger, a sledge full of his belongings being dragged by a horse.

These include implements of torture, suggestive of the Inquisition, a statue of Saint Antony, and a Plan of London Blackfriars.

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Below the image, a twelve line poem reads: ‘With lanthern jaws, and croaking Gut, / See how the half-starv’d Frenchmen Strut, / And call us English Dogs! / But soon we’ll teach these bragging Foes, That Beef & Beer give heavier Blows, than Soup & Roasted Frogs. / The Priests inflam’d with righteous hopes, / Prepare their Axes, Wheels & Ropes, / To bend the Stiff neckt Sinner; / But should they sink in coming over, / Old Nick may fish ‘twixt France & Dover / And catch a glorious Dinner!

Dinner!’

Paulson 202 iii/iii, BM Satires 3446

England, Plate 2nd: In England, the hale and hearty soldiery are merry and prepared. The scene is set outside the ‘Duke of Cumberland’ Inn, named for the victor of Culloden and alluding to the French defeat at their last attempt to invade. In the distance, a regiment of soldiers stand to attention before their officer. Those off duty enjoy themselves outside the Inn. A soldier, smoking a long pipe, paints a grotesque caricature of the King of France on the Wall. The King, armed with a sword and holding a gallows, is given a speech bubble which in broken English labels the English as ‘pirates.’ Two serving girls admire the soldier, measuring his wide shoulders, while two of his fellows whoop encouragingly. On the table is a massive side of beef, and a note with the words to ‘Rule Britannia’ written on it. Sitting on the ground beside the table, the regimental musician practices ‘God Save Great George Our King’ on his pipe, while a recruiter measures the height of a burly young lad.

Below the image, a twelve line poem reads: ‘See John the Soldier, Jack the Tar, / With Sword & Pistol arm’d for War, / Should Mounsir dare come here! / The Hungry Slaves have smelt our Food, / They long to taste our Flesh and Blood. / Old England Beef and Beer! / Britons to Arms! and let ‘em come, / Be you but Britons still, Strike Home, / And Lionlike attack ‘em; / No Power can stand the deadly Stroke, / That’s given from hands & hearts of Oak, / With Liberty to back em! em!’

Paulson 203 iii/iii, BM Satires 3454

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The TIMES

15. The Times Plate I and Plate II William Hogarth Copper engraving and etching Designed & Engraved by W Hogarth/Published as the Act directs Sepr: 7 1762. [J & J Boydell c.1795] Images 215 x 295 mm, Sheet 520 x 318 mm Unmounted A pair of plates on the same sheet entitled ‘The Times: Plate 1’ and ‘The Times: Plate 2,’ satirising the recent resignation of William Pitt and the continuance of the Seven Years War, and showing support for the new ministry of the unpopular Earl of Bute.

Condition: Excellent impressions, the two plates printed on one sheet. Trimmed within the plate just below title a base with publication line (Designed & Engraved

by W. Hogarth./Publish’d May 29: 1790, by J. & J. Boydell, Cheapside, & at the Shakspeare Gallery Pall Mall London.) trimmed off.

[38152] £200

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Plate 1: The scene is set in a London street. The Seven Years War has been characterised as a destructive raging fire, which sets alight one side of the street. William Pitt is depicted on stilts, the crutches that he used during his bouts of gout, fanning the flames with a large bellows. A millstone with the inscription ‘3000£ per annum,’ Pitt’s pension, hangs from his neck. The fire blazes through a large globe that sits above the ornamental lintel of the building’s door, illustrative of the international nature of the conflict. Down the street behind Pitt, the aggressor nations are depicted as houses already in flame. The fleur-de-lis hangs outside one, indicating France, the double-headed eagle of Germany next door. Across the street another sign shows a Frenchman and a Spaniard clasping hands in agreement. At the centre of the scene, King George (or one of his representatives), identified by the ‘GR’ badge on his arm, stands atop a fire engine of the Union Office and attempts to fight the fire. He is doused by his political opponents in the ‘Temple Coffee House,’ who turn their hoses on the King rather than on the more pressing danger of the fire across the street.

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The faceless man is identified as Pitt’s supporter and brother-in-law, Earl Temple, criticised as having no political personality of his own beyond supporting Pitt’s wishes. In the foreground to the left, the Mayor of London, Alderman William Beckford, another Pittite, gestures to a cartoon of a Native American Indian, who carries bags of money and stands before barrells of West Indian Tobacco and Sugar, the source of Beckford’s Wealth. Before him, another Pittite pushes a barrow of pro-Pitt propaganda towards the flames, ramming a loyal Highlander who rushes to help with buckets of water. To the right of these, a group of German paupers gather around Frederick the Great, who plays his fiddle while London burns.

Paulson 211 iii/iii, BM Satires 3970

Plate 2: The scene now is one of peace, with the fire of War having been extinguished. Where Plate 1 had King George atop a fire-engine, Plate 2 now has a statue of the King atop a pedestal in the centre of a fountain, which has replaced the streams of the firehoses in the previous scene. The fountain now waters a series of trees, representing those with royal support. A large vase with a tree marked ‘Culloden’ is the only one not receiving water from the fountain, a representation of the unpopularity of the Duke of Cumberland in the aftermath of the Battle of Culloden. The rainbow in the sky, decorated with the signs of the zodiac, takes pity on the unwatered tree, with Aquarius emptying his waterjug over it. Bute is depicted at the forefront, manning the pump that supplies water to the fountain.

Behind him, the assembled Lords and Commons are divided into two parties, one supporting War, the other Peace. The Peace party, negligently asleep in their seats, are unaware of the actions of the War Party, who fire muskets at the dove of peace, which flies through the sky at centre clutching an olive sprig.

The man who turns his head away from his shot is William Pitt, identified by the large flannel wraps around his gout-ridden legs. On the right of the plate, two figures are pilloried for ‘Conspiracy’ and ‘Defamation.’ The woman on the left is Ms. Fanny, the perpetrator of the Cock-Lane Ghost fraud. She is dressed as the ghost, carrying a mallet, used for making knocking noises, and a candle, which threatens to set alight the pamphlet of her colleague in the pillory, the notorious radical and libertine, John Wilkes. A young boy urinates on Wilkes’ shoes, while a group of crippled war-veterans mill around a small culvert.

Paulson 212 iv/iv, BM Satires 3972

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