The Sleeping Congregation
October 1736
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on ivory wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 25 × 19.5 cm (9 7/8 × 7 11/16 in.); Plate: 26.4 × 20.4 cm (10 7/16 × 8 1/16 in.); Sheet: 30 × 25 cm (11 13/16 × 9 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
108984
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
William Hogarth’s scathing indictments of the extremes of the churchgoing community take no prisoners, whether lambasting credulous Catholics or disinterested Methodists. Only the preacher and his attendant clerk here have managed to stay awake this long into the sermon. Most of the audience is snoring, tumbling onto each other in deep slumber. The young lady to the right, with her unguarded décolletage, holds a pamphlet about marriage, which may inspire her dreams. In contrast, the sidelong gla...
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...