Hogarth's Progress

318 pp. "No one could be more fitted to portray the life of the great 18th century English painter than Quennell who has already shown in his Four Portraits: Studies of the Eighteenth Century a special affection for this period. Hogarth, the son of an impecunious school teacher, was in every sense a self-made man. Great artist that he was, he lacked any gift for delicate introspection, was part of the coarse, hearty enthusiasms of the age. His paintings, A Rake's Progress, Marriage a la Mode, etc. were to record its rowdy spirit with a sharp souse of realism. What gives this biography its particular insight is that Quennell discerns under the rough externals Hogarth's true sensibility and growth as an artist, from the early genre pictures to the final masterpiece- The Shrimp Girl which foreshadows the impressionists which were to come many years later.... A revealing and rewarding study, its appeal may be limited by the quiet undramatic nature of Hogarth's life and perhaps the period- which is a special taste and enthusiasm." "William Hogarth FRSA (10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects", perhaps best known being his moral series A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode. Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian". Hogarth was born in London into a poor middle-class family. In his youth he took up an apprenticeship where he specialised in engraving. His father underwent periods of mixed fortune, and was at one time imprisoned in lieu of outstanding debts; an event that is thought to have informed William's paintings and prints with a hard edge. His work was influenced by French and Italian painting and engraving. Hogarth's works are mostly satirical caricatures, sometimes bawdily sexual, mostly of the first rank of realistic portraiture. They became widely popular and mass-produced via prints in his lifetime, and he was by far the most significant English artist of his generation."