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The artwork of William Hogarth is influenced greatly by social factors and the culture of eighteenth century England. In many of his works, Hogarth satirizes English society, rich and poor alike. His paintings and engravings depict the society of which he lived, with the costumes and ways of life of the times all shown in his work. Much of the time he is being satirical, exaggerating some of the faults of the people, other times he is being bitingly realistic in his views.
It seems no-one is safe from his caricatures, from the lords and ladies, to slaves, servants, prostitutes, criminals and the poor. Overall, his work shows the culture of a broad cross section of the people of England during this time, depicted often in a very funny way. An important note is that the engravings were produced from the opposite side as the paintings, so the engravings are seen with left and right sides in reverse from how they appear in the paintings. I will discuss how his works show many aspects of the life of England at the time. I will focus particularly on several of the series of works which Hogarth produced, because by telling a story with his work and not merely painting a single picture, he shows much more aspects of the society in which he lived than just the physical appearance.
Some individual paintings of Hogarth show many details of English eighteenth century society. Hogarth engraved Beer street to show a happy city drinking the 'good' beverage of English beer, versus Gin Lane that showed what would happen if people started drinking gin which as a harder liquor would cause more problems for society. People are shown as healthy, happy and hard working in Beer Street, while in Gin lane, they are scrawny, lazy and acting carelessly, such as the drunk woman at the front who reaches for a snuff box and in doing so, drops her baby. As Hogarth himself wrote, "Beer Street and Gin Lane were done when the dred full [sic] consequences of gin drinking was at its height. " (Webster 1978) The prints were published partly to support the 1751 Gin Act. In an earlier work, Strolling Actresses in a Barn, Hogarth also referred to another Act, the 1737 Act against strolling players. The Act is depicted on the left side of the engraving showing that the performance will be the women's last.
Social references include the fact that there were many people of African descent in England at the time, as is shown by the servant and the black actress in this print. The man peeping in at the top right which he possibly could have paid to do because "Men at this time could pay to peek at the actresses changing... a seedy, disordered side to a play filled with magic and goddesses. " (peopleplayuk. org. uk) Some of the actresses look silly here, similar to the foolish side of people Hogarth illustrated in his earlier picture about the bursting of the South Sea bubble. Hogarth's early print The South Sea Scheme is about the disastrous stock market crash of 1720, where many English people lost a great deal of money.
In the bottom left corner, he shows Protestant, Catholic and Jewish figures gambling, while in the middle there is a huge merry-go-round like machine, which people are getting on to ride. At the top is a goat, written below which is "Who'l Ride" and this shows the stupidity of people in following the crowd in buying South Sea company stock, a company which spent more time issuing stock than actually producing anything. The people are scattered around the picture with a real sense of disorder, which represented the confusion; "reflecting the actual confusion that preceded and followed the bursting of the South Sea Bubble. " (Dabydeen 1987: 21) The progress of the well dressed people towards the ride in the middle shows how foolish some people could be, which is not entirely their own fault. Hogarth's series A Harlot's Progress not only shows the costumes, and interior decoration of eighteenth century England, but it gives an insight into English culture. The series depicts the life story of a woman from the countryside who goes to the city in search of work, but eventually turns to prostitution, is arrested and dies. Hogarth uses ordinary people as the characters in his paintings, rather than use stories from myths or legends.
The style of dress and types of people would have been known to the people who saw his prints at the time. The sometimes cruel society is shown in these prints, for the woman is seen in the first print in such fine dress, with probably good intentions, which contrasts to her miserable future in the next prints. It showed the "hard, un compassionate morality of the age the painter lived in. " (33. 1911 encyclopedia. org) Hogarth followed this very successful series with another tragic story with a male character this time.
The series A Rake's Progress also shows the lifestyles of the people of England during Hogarth's lifetime. The series of paintings shows a young man who at the beginning of the series is youthful and happy, and continues through his life a downfall which ends with him being committed to the Bedlam asylum. Hogarth is obviously trying to give a lesson in morals, to show the downward path which will occur if people choose to go down a certain road. By doing so, he shows many of the lifestyles and culture of people at the time.
In the first two paintings in the series Hogarth paints pictures showing high fashionable society, with the tailors, musicians and riders. The second painting with men dressed in expensive costumes shows "the excesses of a young spendthrift. " (Scull 1991: 18) A wild party in the third and a picture of a gambling house in the sixth shows another, seedier aspect of English society at the time, while the fourth, Arrested, and the seventh, Prison, and eighth, Bedlam, paintings give a glimpse of the world of law enforcement and institutions. Disturbing are some of the details such as the fashionably dressed women in the last painting who have come to the asylum during the day as a social occasion. The Four Times of the day series shows his version of the traditional times of the day theme in art; of events taking place at morning, noon, afternoon and night. In Morning, there is an wealthy woman on the way to church, who avoids making eye contact with the couple on the right or the beggar below her, speaking of the hypocrisy of some church goers by acting pious but ignoring their fellow people. The next print, Noon, continues the theme, with well dressed people exiting the church on the right, while there are poorer people suffering on the left, a line in the middle of the picture in the road actually dividing the two classes.
It shows clearly the gap in society between the upper and lower classes. While the rich look ridiculous and haughty in their fine costumes, the poor are more concerned with food and love. "The Four Times of the Day series depict stark differences between the condition of the wealthy and the poor" (Dabydeen 1987: 62) Hogarth uses satire to make fun of all the elements in the society, sparing neither rich or poor, although he often singles out an individual section of society for a particular series. Marriage a la mode is a biting satire on the lives of the upper classes. Hog...
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