Paul Before Felix
c. 1751
Medium
Various red chalks on cream laid paper
Dimensions
39.5 × 51.5 cm (15 9/16 × 20 5/16 in.)
Classification
prints and drawing
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
186088
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Around 1747 William Hogarth completed a series of history paintings that were much more serious in tone than the satirical works on which he had built his fame. This drawing and Moses Brought to Pharaoh’s Daughter (2013.951) were both likely made after those paintings as studies for engravings. Paul before Felix, showing the apostle’s self-defense, was commissioned for the chapel of Lincoln’s Inn, where lawyers were admitted to the bar. Moses was similarly appropriate for its location, the Londo...
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...