The amazing web site of Shakespeare's Sonnets. Industry and Idleness. Plate 7. The Idle Apprentice returned from sea and in a garret with a Common Prostitute, by Hogarth.
HAKESPEARE'S ONNETS
This is part of the web site of Shakespeare's sonnets
PICTURE GALLERY.
William Hogarth 1697 - 1764.
Industry
and Idleness. Plate 7. The Idle Apprentice returned
from sea and in a garret with a Common Prostitute.
1747.
Hogarth
first achieved fame as an artist through his series of moralistic
engravings, commencing with A
Harlot's Progress
in 1731. This was followed by A
Rake's Progress
in 1735, Marriage
ŕ-la-mode
in 1743-5, and Industry
and Idleness in
1747
. Originally the sets of pictures were oil
paintings which
Hogarth subsequently published as engravings. However the
Industry and Idleness series was conceived entirely as a set
of engravings which were not copied from paintings. They were
put on sale for one shilling each, which is equivalent today, (2008),
to about ten pounds sterling (GBP). Evidently Hogarth was
trying
to appeal to a wider audience than the upper class wealthy who were his
usual patrons. The Industry and Idleness series is rather crudely moralistic, depicting how industry and virtue are rewarded with worldly success, while idleness, corruption and vice is ultimately punished by the gallows. Despite this rather tedious tale, which is not true to life and simplistically misrepresents the apprenticeship system of the time, the engravings are a superb record of both the lower and upper end of London life of the time. The banqueting scene of Plate 8 and the two final crowd scenes of the Tyburn spectacle and the Lord Mayor's Parade are incomparable and show the satirical Hogarth at his very best. |
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Some
years have elapsed and Tom Idle, evidently returned from sea, is now a
thief who works on the London streets. Or perhaps he is a
highwayman he devotes his time to holding up coaches. He is
depicted here in a state of terror as he thinks that the garret is
being broken into by the law, against which eventuality the door is
heavily barricaded. In fact the commotion is caused by a feral
cat falling down the chimney. His partner meanwhile is examining
the night's haul - two fob watches, an etui, a ring and some earrings.
Everything in the room is in a state of extreme dilapidation.
The bottles on the mantel piece are probably potions for venereal
disease. The woman's petticoat covers the hole in the wall which serves
as a window. |
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London Bridge As it was in Shakespeare's day, circa 1600. |
To search for a line or phrase in the sonnets
go to the Sonnets as plain text and use the browser text search engine. |
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Copyright Šof this site belongs to Oxquarry Books Ltd