Sidrophel Examining the Kite Through His Telescope (Seventeen Small Illustrations for Samuel Butler's Hudibras, no. 10)
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 4 3/4 x 2 5/8 in. (12 x 6.7 cm) (trimmed)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.35(108)
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *Sidrophel Examining the Through His Telescope* is of seventeen small etchings and engravings created between 1721 and 1726 to illustrate Samuel Butler's satirical epic poem *Hudibras* (1663–78). This diminutive print (just 4 3/4 x 2 5/8 inches) captures a comical moment from the poem, where the fraudulent astrologer Sidrophel through his telescope at a kite—a jab at pseudo-science and the era's fascination with astronomy and experimentation. Hogarth, an early master of satirical printmaking, uses sharp lines and intricate details to mock the pretensions of 17th-century charl...
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...