Quick Facts
- NAME: William Hogarth
- OCCUPATION: Painter
- BIRTH DATE: November 10, 1697
- DEATH DATE: October 26, 1764
- PLACE OF BIRTH: London, England
- PLACE OF DEATH: London, England
Best Known For
William Hogarth was the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad, best known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings.
William Hogarth. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 01:58, Feb 10, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526
William Hogarth [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526, February 10
" William Hogarth." 2012. Biography.com 10 Feb 2012, 01:58 http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526
' William Hogarth', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526 [accessed Feb 10, 2012]
" William Hogarth," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526 (accessed Feb 10, 2012).
William Hogarth [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 Feb 10]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526.
William Hogarth, http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526 (last visited Feb 10, 2012).
William Hogarth, http://www.biography.com/people/william-hogarth-9341526 (last visited Feb 10, 2012).
Synopsis
Contents
Quotes
(born Nov. 10, 1697, London, Eng.—died Oct. 26, 1764, London) the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad, best known for his moral and satirical engravings and paintings—e.g.,
Youth and early career
Hogarth—the only son of Richard Hogarth, a minor classical scholar and schoolmaster—grew up with two sisters, Mary and Ann, in the heart of the teeming city. Richard's evident abilities as a classicist brought him scant reward but provided an educated and industrious, if not prosperous, home. Later, looking back on this period, Hogarth dwelt almost exclusively on his father's shabby treatment at the hands of printers, booksellers, and wealthy patrons. Apart from confirming his distrust of learning, his resentment at his father's disappointing experiences fostered the boy's self-assertiveness and independence of character.
As a boy with little inclination to scholarship but gifted with a lively perception of the world around him, he enjoyed mimicking and drawing characters, interests that were encouraged by visits to a local painter's workshop. While not discouraging his artistic inclinations, his father, Hogarth later complained, could do little more “than put me in a way of shifting for myself.” He consequently sought the security of a solid craftsman's training and became apprenticed, at about the age of 15, to a silversmith. Hogarth presumably moved to his master's house, where he learned to engrave gold and silver work with armorial designs—in his own phrase, the “monsters of heraldry.” Valuable years lost on what the engraver George Vertue aptly termed “low-shrubb instructions” had crucial bearing on Hogarth's subsequent development. Apart from the insecurity they bred, Hogarth's frustration with his training led him to exploit unorthodox methods of self-instruction in order to make up for lost time. His originality and flexibility as an artist owed much to this pragmatic and unconventional approach to his career.
Hogarth's years of apprenticeship were by no means devoted exclusively to hard work, however. Sociable and fond of fun, a keen and humorous observer of human behaviour, with a special love of the theatre and shows of all kinds, he was evidently a convivial companion. Never prudish, he knew the exuberant life of the London streets, bawdy houses, fairs, and theatres firsthand and derived from them a fertile appreciation of the vitality of popular tradition. At the same time, he felt drawn to the coffeehouses and taverns frequented by writers, musicians, actors, and liberal professionals, forming lasting friendships in such lively intellectual circles. His sympathies rested with the middle classes and, specifically, with the critical, enlightened element—rational, tolerant, and humanitarian—that
GetGlue
-
Celebrate Black History with BIO and GetGlue
All February, check in daily to BIO Black History on GetGlue to unlock stickers, videos, and more!
profile name: William Hogarth profile occupation:
Your Connections
Sign in with Facebook to see how you and your friends are connected to famous icons.
Profile Connections
Included In These Groups
-
Famous Scorpios 437 people in this group
-
Famous Painters
View groupBrowse notable painters such as Frida Kahlo, Romare Bearden, and Georges Braque.
Famous Painters 156 people in this group
-
Famous Artists
View groupBrowse notable artists such as Jeff Koons, Romare Bearden, and Jackson Pollack
Famous Artists 274 people in this group

Barack Obama
Black History
African-American Firsts: Athletes
Don Cornelius
I Survived...
I Survived... Beyond and Back
Jamie Foxx
Magic Johnson
Tina Turner
I Survived


