Hudibras Catechized, plate nine from Hudibras
February 1725/26
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge, mounted on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 24.1 × 34.2 cm (9 1/2 × 13 1/2 in.); Plate: 26.9 × 35.1 cm (10 5/8 × 13 7/8 in.); Primary support: 27.2 × 35.6 cm (10 3/4 × 14 1/16 in.); Secondary support: 36.3 × 48 cm (14 5/16 × 18 15/16 in.)
Classification
engraving
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
184614
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The 12 plates in the Hudibras series represent the early work of William Hogarth; they were made before he began publishing on his own. Issued with verses from Samuel Butler’s poem as explanatory captions, Hudibras foreshadows the “moral progresses” for which Hogarth is perhaps best remembered. In this scene, Hudibras visits the woman he is wooing but is surprised by a group of masked attackers. Believing them to be spirits sent by the astrologer Sidrophel, Hudibras confesses his sins and, by ex...
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...