Hogarth, William (1697 London 1764). Simon Lord Lovat. Portrait, sitting, of the Scottish aristocrat, nicknamed “The Fox”, Chief of Clan Fraser, and 11^th Lord Lovat, discovered after the lost Battle of Culloden April 16, 1746, in a hollow trunk on an island in Loch Morar and brought to St. Albans. Sentenced to death for high treason (Jacobite rebellion of 1745) he ticks off his chances on his fingers ten days before his death April 9, 1747. Engraving by Thomas Cook (c. 1744 – London 1818). Inscribed: Design’d by W. Hogarth / Engrav’d by T. Cook / London Published by G. G. & J. Robinson Paternoster Row December 1^st 1800., otherwise as above. 37.3 x 24.5 cm.

Marvelous impression of finest chiaroscuro on strong paper with very wide margins, the outmost margin here and there touched by feeble water marks. – Cook “made a name for himself as Hogarth engraver, too, whose complete work he has engraved in copy” (Thieme-Becker) and whose original format he maintained contrary to all later Hogarth editions in his first, earlier edition. For some sheets not published by Hogarth himself Cook became their first engraver, just as he also gained approval of a contemporary connoisseur as Maximilian Speck von Sternburg.

Thematically belonging to the March to Finchley

“ by the expression in which one fully recognizes the man described above the portrait is one of the artist’s most excellent works. (It) was published at a moment when the political excitement guaranteed a general success … For eight days Hogarth’s press was not allowed to rest … ”

(Lichtenberg).

For though a rogue’s rogue well-deserving death the people was weary of the numerous previous executions and

vigorously  requested  a  suspension  of  the  old  issues .

What the government respected being man enough for this as well. Therefore still 261 years later this sheet, too, from the classic country of parliamentarism may “stir special interest in Germany” as Lichtenberg strikingly noted elsewhere. Simon Fraser was the last one beheaded in England.
Offer no. 14,939 / EUR  340. / Export price EUR  323. (c. US$ 519.) + shipping

– – – The same in Hogarth’s own etching in a deep impression from the plate reworked by the royal engraver James Heath (1757 London 1834) about 1822

(“Even these impressions became relatively rare today though”, Art Gallery Esslingen 1970; and Meyers Konv.-Lex., 4^th ed., VIII [1888], 625: “A fine edition”). Inscribed: Drawn from the Life and Etch’d in Aquafortis by Will.^m Hogarth, / Published according to Act of Parliament August 25.^th 1746 (sic!). / price 1 Shilling, otherwise as above. 36.5 x 23.7 cm. – Nagler 28. – Illustration Hogarth Catalog Zurich, 1983, 46.
Offer no. 14,938 / EUR  290. / Export price EUR  276. (c. US$ 444.) + shipping

– – – The same in Cook’s popular later, smaller version. Inscribed: Lord Lovat. / Hogarth pinx^t. T. Cook sculp / Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees & Orme, Jan.^y 1^st. 1807. Subject 17 x 12.6 cm. – Trimmed within the wide white platemark.
Offer no. 14,945 / EUR  118. (c. US$ 190.) + shipping

– – – The same in engraving by Carl Heinrich Rahl (Hoffenheim 1779 – Vienna 1843). (1818/23.) Inscribed: 55., otherwise as above. 24.6 x 19.3 cm.
Offer no. 14,940 / EUR  198. (c. US$ 318.) + shipping

– – – The same in engraving by Ernst Ludwig Riepenhausen (1765 Göttingen 1840, university engraver there). Inscribed:55 / Hogarth del., otherwise as above. 23.3 x 18.3 cm. – Impression of shining chiaroscuro on especially strong paper, supposedly about 1850. – Riepenhausen’s engravings after Hogarth (“very estimable”, Nagler) belong to his chief work and not least for their side-correctness they are partly even preferred to Hogarth’s own engravings.
Offer no. 14,941 / EUR  230. (c. US$ 370.) + shipping

– – – The same by Riepenhausen as before, but on slightly toned minor paper.
Offer no. 14,942 / EUR  198. (c. US$ 318.) + shipping

– – – The same in lithography by C. F. Heintz. (1833/36.) Inscribed: 27, otherwise as above. 24.8 x 14 cm. – Extensive historical explanation in German.
Offer no. 14,943 / EUR  160. (c. US$ 257.) + shipping

– – – The same in steel engraving about 1840. Inscribed: Lord Lovat. 15.8 x 11 cm.
Offer no. 14,944 / EUR  89. (c. US$ 143.) + shipping

„ Best her Niemeyer, De prenten zijn vanmiddag in goede staat gearriveerd. Alleen al het uitpakken is een genot! Ze zien er prachtig uit (vooral The Idel ’prentice is een juweel) … Wat dat betreft, zijn eigenlijk alle prenten die u mij hebt toegezonde, van uitstekende kwaliteit … “

(de heer P. E., 1. Februar 2008)