John Wilkes Esq.
1763
Medium
etching
Dimensions
sheet: 35.1 × 23 cm (13 13/16 × 9 1/16 in.) mount: 62.7 × 46.7 cm (24 11/16 × 18 3/8 in.)
Classification
Department
CG-E
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Rosenwald Collection
Accession Number
1944.5.100
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's etching *John Wilkes Esq.*, created in 1763, offers a sharp satirical portrait of the fiery British politician and radical reformer John Wilkes. Hogarth, a pioneering figure in 18th-century art, was renowned for his moralistic and politically charged prints that skewered society's vices and power players. This work, produced on a compact sheet measuring 35.1 × 23 cm, captures the tense atmosphere of mid-Georgian Britain, where Wilkes's outspoken journalism—particularly his inflammatory *North Briton No. 45*—ignited debates on press freedom and government corruption. As an et...
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...