Hudibras Catechized (Twelve Large Illustrations for Samuel Butler's Hudibras, Plate 9)
Medium
Etching and engraving; third state of three
Dimensions
plate: 10 3/4 x 13 7/8 in. (27.3 x 35.3 cm) sheet: 11 1/2 x 14 9/16 in. (29.2 x 37 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Sarah Lazarus, 1891
Accession Number
91.1.98
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the satirical world of William Hogarth with *Hudibras Catech*, Plate 9 from his Twelve Large Illustrations for Samuel Butler epic mock-heroic poem *Hudibras* (1663–78). Created between 1725 and 1768, this etching and engraving captures Hogarth's signature style: biting social commentary through crowded, caricatured scenes. Butler's poem lampoons Puritan hypocrisy and the chaos of the English Civil War, with the bumbling knight Hudibras as its foolish anti-hero. Here, in the third state of three impressions, Hogarth depicts a lively moment of interrogation or "catechism," featuring me...
About the Artist
William Hogarth|Samuel Butler · 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...