A Midnight Modern Conversation
March 1732/33
Medium
Etching and engraving selectively printed in black and red on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 32.9 × 45.5 cm (13 × 17 15/16 in.); Plate: 34.5 × 47 cm (13 5/8 × 18 9/16 in.); Sheet: 37.2 × 49.7 cm (14 11/16 × 19 5/8 in.)
Classification
prints and drawing
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
190874
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
One of Hogarth’s most sought-after and most frequently copied compositions, A Midnight Modern Conversation features a raucous, smoke-filled scene in which drunken participants stumble, fall asleep, and lose their wigs. This impression of the print incorporates painterly nuances in an application of both red and black ink, a color choice resulting in a mock history painting.
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...