Time Smoking a Picture
March 1761
Medium
Etching and mezzotint; second state of three
Dimensions
sheet: 9 3/16 x 7 3/16 in. (23.4 x 18.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.35(76)
Tags
About this artwork
[Research in progress for Time Smoking a Picture by William Hogarth, March 1761]
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *Time Smoking a Picture*March 1761) is a witty etching and mezzotint capturing the English artist's signature satirical flair in its second state of three. just 9 3/16 x 7 3/16 inches, this compact print belongs to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection acquired through the Harris Brisbane Dick Fund 1932. Hogarth, a pioneering figure in 18th British art, was renowned for his moralistic series caricatures that skewered social vices, bridging Rococo elegance with sharp English commentary. The medium—etching combined with mezzotint—highlights Hogarth's ...
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...