A Harlot's Progress, Plate 1
April 1732
Medium
Etching and engraving; fourth state of four
Dimensions
plate: 12 1/2 x 15 3/8 in. (31.8 x 39.1 cm) sheet: 13 3/8 x 16 in. (33.9 x 40.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Sarah Lazarus, 1891
Accession Number
91.1.128
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *A Harlot's Progress Plate 1*, published in April 1732, launches a groundbreaking series of six satirical prints that trace the tragic downfall of a young country girl in London's underbelly. As an innovative English artist and engraver, Hogarth drew from 18th-century urban life to expose vice, corruption, and social hypocrisy, blending sharp moral commentary with vivid storytelling. This first plate captures the innocent protagonist's arrival in the city—likely amid a bustling scene with horses, men, and women—marking her fateful encounter with temptation. Crafted through e...
About the Artist
William Hogarth · 1697–1764
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was an English painter, printmaker, and pictorial satirist who became the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad. Born into poverty in London, the son of a failed schoolmaster who was imprisoned for debt, Hogarth's early experiences with the harsh realities of 18th-century urban life profoundly shaped his artistic vision. After apprenticing with si...