- Museum number
- Oo,5.3
- Description
-
Study for a christening, called 'Orator Henley christening a child'; group of figures standing around a font, including a woman in black hood, the parish clerk, the parson in white wig, holding the child and a young woman in white cap and gown laced with blue ribbon. c.1728
Oil, unfinished, on grey-grounded canvas
- Production date
- 1728 (?)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 319 millimetres
-
Width: 233 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- Etched, 1786, by Samuel Ireland, on a smaller scale by Jane Ireland in 'Graphic Illustrations', I, p 135, and the figure of the Orator only, by George Cruikshank, in 'Caulfield', IV, p 1 (BM Sat, nos 2838-40)
Stainton & White 1987
This fluent, lively oil sketch is a study for the central group of figures in Hogarth's painting of the same title (Private Collection), which has been dated about 1729. The clergyman is said to be 'Orator' John Henley, a notorious figure whose eccentric manner forced him to resign from the Church of England. He officiated at a private chapel, to which he charged admission as for a theatrical performance, and attracted large congregations. Alexander Pope denounced him in the 'Dunciad':
"Oh great Restorer of the good old Stage,
Preacher at once, and Zany of the age!"
Henley was the butt of several of Hogarth's satirical prints. Here, while he is supposed to be officiating at a christening, he is ogling the girl at the right of the composition. In the finished painting and the related mezzotint by Joseph Sympson (Paulson, op. cit., 1965), a young man pays court to the mother of the baby being christened, while the father ignores both his wife and the ceremony to admire himself in a mirror. As Paulson has pointed out, 'The Christening' foreshadows the first scene of 'Marriage à la Mode' (1743-5). This preparatory sketch also anticipates Hogarth's delicately responsive portraits, which culminate in the study of his servants (about 1750-55; Tate Gallery, London).
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Subsequent research identified the first owner of the finished painting as Hewer Edgeley Hewer (1692-1728) giving a terminus ante quem. Hewer's collection including the painting was sold in May 1729.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1891-3 BM P&D, 'Dwgs & Sketches by Cont'l & Brit Masters', no. 182
1934 BM, Exhibition of English Art, no.285
1964 Dec-May, BM, Hogarth, no.275
1987 June-Aug, BM Hilliard to Hogarth no.199
1987 Sept-Nov, New Haven, Hilliard to Hogarth
1997 Sept - 1998 Jan, BM, Hogarth and his Times,no.35
1998 Jan-April, USA, Berkeley AM, Hogarth and Times
1998 June-Aug, Ottawa, NGC, Hogarth and Times
1998 Sep-Nov, USA, NY, Columbia Univ. Hogarth and Times
2014 Sept-Dec, BM, Hogarth the Draughtsman
- Acquisition date
- 1824
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- Oo,5.3
