The First Stage of Cruelty (The Four Stages of Cruelty)
February 1, 1751
Medium
Etching and engraving; first state of two
Dimensions
plate: 15 1/4 x 12 11/16 in. (38.8 x 32.3 cm) sheet: 15 15/16 x 13 3/16 in. (40.5 x 33.5 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Sarah Lazarus, 1891
Accession Number
91.1.136
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *The First Stage of Cruel*, etched and engraved in 1751, opens his powerful series *The Four Stages of Cruel*. As a pioneering English artist and satirist, Hogarth prints to deliver biting social commentary during the Enlightenment era, blending moral instruction with vivid realism. This-state impression captures the grim beginnings of vice: young boys—likely street urchins or apprentices—tormenting cats, dogs, and chickens in a chaotic London scene, foreshadowing a descent into adult depravity across the four plates. Printed on a modest scale (plate: 15¼ × 12⅝ in.), the etc...
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...