( Lichtenberg )

Hogarth, William (1697 London 1764). Prison Scene. The new inevitable station in Rakewell’s life. The boy will have to take back the foaming jug of porter as he cannot even pay his footing to the also entering jailer. In the background the fully functional laboratory of an alchemist who searches unperturbed for gold. On the left the faithful Sarah Young with her little daughter. A smelling-bottle shall give new courage to the faint first, offered by a helpful guy who also endeavours elsewhere as the

memorial  for  the  national  procurement  of  money

slipped from hands proves. Engraving by Thomas Cook (c. 1744 – London 1818). Inscribed: Designed by W^m. Hogarth / Engraved by T. Cook / Published Apr^l. 1^st. 1797, by G. G. & J. Robinson, Pater-noster Row, London. / Pl. VII. 35.8 x 42 cm.

The Rake’s Progress VII. – With multi-verse subtext. – Cook “made a name for himself as Hogarth engraver, too” (Thieme-Becker) whose original folio size he kept contrary to all later Hogarth editions. Worth mentioning fine the chiaroscuro of his sheet here.

Hogarth’s  grandiose  depiction  of  the  execution  of  a  sentence  at  insolvents

full of charming details. It is

a  beerless , a  horrible  time .

And experienced by the master himself indirectly or directly. Since according to Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 4^th ed., VIII, 624, his landlady brought him into the notorious Fleet prison for unpaid debts – and received her appropriate memorial in due time. The catalogue Zurich of 1983 nevertheless just mentions the imprisonment of the father.
Offer no. 7,518 / EUR  496. / Export price EUR  471. (c. US$ 745.) + shipping

– – – The same in the smaller repetition Cook worked together with his son without the subtext here replaced by the series title. Inscribed: Pl. VIII. / Hogarth pinx^t. / T. Cook & Son sc. / Published by Longman, Hurst, Rees, & Orme, Sept^r. 1^st. 1808. Subject size 14.5 x 17.2 cm. – Trimmed within the wide white platemark.
Offer no. 8,729 / EUR  84. (c. US$ 133.) + shipping

– – – The same in steel engraving about 1840. 12.8 x 15.1 cm. – With the title in German.
Offer no. 5,804 / EUR  43. (c. US$ 68.) + shipping

Complete copies of the set and further single plates available .

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