An Election Entertainment, Plate I: Four Prints of an Election
February 1755
Medium
Etching and engraving; state six of eight
Dimensions
plate: 15 7/8 x 21 5/16 in. (40.3 x 54.1 cm) sheet: 16 11/16 x 21 9/16 in. (42.4 x 54.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.35(212)
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *An Election Entertainment, Plate I: Four Prints of an* (February 1755) bursts with the raucous energy of 18-century British political life. This etching and engraving, in state six of eight, measures nearly 16 by 21 inches and depicts a lively election gathering teeming with men, women, children,, drinkers, and partyers. Hogarth, a master satir, packs the scene with exaggerated revelry to mock the chaos and excess of electoral politics, inviting viewers to decode its witty details. Created amid the heated 1754 Oxfordshire election between Whigs and Tories, the print skewers...
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...