Plate Four, from A Rake's Progress
June 1735
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.7 × 39 cm (12 1/2 × 15 3/8 in.); Plate: 35.9 × 41 cm (14 3/16 × 16 3/16 in.); Sheet: 48.7 × 61.5 cm (19 3/16 × 24 1/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80811
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *Plate Four, from A Rake's Progress*, in June 1735, is a masterful etching and engraving that forms part of one of the artist's most iconic satirical series. Hogarth, a pioneering English painter and printmaker of the 18th century crafted *A Rake's Progress as a cautionary moral tale following the reckless descent of its protagonist, Tom Rake, from wealth to ruin. This series, originally painted as eight canvases, was reproduced as affordable prints to reach a broad audience, critiquing the vices of Georgian society—from gambling and debauchery to folly and madness. Rendered...
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...