print; satirical print

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Object Type: print; satirical print
Museum number: 1848,0708.19-21
Title: Object: A Harlot's Progress; Series: A Harlot's Progress
Description: Copy of plates 1-3 from Hogarth's 'Harlot's Progress': Plate 1: A scene outside the Bell Inn; a country girl, Moll Hackabout, just arrived on the York Wagon, meets an extravagantly dressed bawd (Mother Needham); a clergyman on horseback fails to notice the encounter, but a lecherous old gentleman (Colonel Charteris) eyes the girl with anticipation. Plate 2: Copy of a lavishly furnished bedroom; Moll distracts her wealthy Jewish protector by exposing a breast and at the same time tipping over a tea-table so that her lover can slip quietly out of the room; in the foreground a mask lies on a table, a pet monkey scampers away with a piece of lace and a black boy dressed in a feathered turban and carrying a silver kettle starts with horror as expensive porcelain is shattered; on the far wall are pictures of Old Testament subjects (Jonah IV.8 and 2 Samuel VI.1-5). Plate 3: A shabby room in Drury Lane; Moll is rising late, attended by a serving-woman who has lost part of her nose to syphilis; in the background, the magistrate, John Gonson, enters quietly with officers to arrest her; pinned to the window frame are prints of Captain Mackheath (the hero of "The Beggar's Opera") and Dr Sacheverell (the High Anglican clergyman impeached in 1710), the hat-box of James Dalton, highwayman, rests above the bed, and one of several beer tankards on the floor carries the name of a local tavern. All in reverse, a satyr either side of the first scene. 1732 Etching with engraving
Producer name: Print made by: Giles King; After: William Hogarth; Published by: Giles King
School/style: British
Production date: 1732
Production place: Published in: London (England)
Materials: paper
Technique: etching; engraving
Dimensions: Height: 470 millimetres; Width: 558 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: King's copy of A Harlot's Progress was authorised by Hogarth. See 1848,0708.22-4 for the second sheet of three plates from 'A Harlot's Progress' [plates 4-6] to follow the present print. According to Pauslon [1989, p.76], the present print was published on 21st of April 1732, and the second sheet on 28th of April.
Bibliographic references: Paulson 1989 / Hogarth's Graphic Works: third edition (121, 122, 123) (copy); Paulson 1965/70 / Hogarth's graphic works: first complete edition (121, 122, 123) (copy); BM Satires / Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum (2033, 2048, 2063)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: 1987/8 Nov-Feb, V&A, 'The Image Multiplied' 1998 Jan-Apr, USA, Berkeley AM, Hogarth and Times 1998 Jun-Aug, Ottawa, NGC, Hogarth and Times 1998 Sep-Nov, USA, NY, Columbia Univ, Hogarth and Times
Subjects: satire; courtesan/prostitute; jewish; black; cart/wagon; tavern/inn; lawyer
Associated names: Associated with: Sir John Gonson; Representation of: Mother Needham; Representation of: Col Francis Charteris; Portrait of: Sir John Gonson; Representation of: Henry Sacheverell; Associated with: James Dalton
Associated places: Associated with: London
Acquisition name: Purchased from: Walter Benjamin Tiffin
Acquisition date: 1848
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1848,0708.19-21

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