William Hogarth
born 1697, died 1764
Etcher, painter and draughtsman born in London. In 1712, he began studying lithographic techniques in a goldsmith’s workshop. Six years later, he became an independent lithographer and an author of popular, satirical compositions. Beginning ca. 1728, he began working in oil painting, studying under James Thornhill, the court painter during the reign of George I. He secretly married Thornhill’s daughter, thereby joining a family with significant status in society and the art world. In 1734, he founded the Painting Academy in St. Martin’s Lane, which played an important role in shaping the careers of young generations of artists prior to the establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. Hogarth strove to paint in the so-called grand style of the age, which dominated at the Royal Academy but his efforts didn’t satisfy the superior standards of the Academy’s members and the critics of the age. His paintings and graphic works, depicting realistic scenes of everyday London life, were distinguished by their authentic and critical observation of the reality of the day.
