Early Modern Visual and Literary Culture
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was a British printmaker, engraver, and painter. He was born November 10th, 1697, in Bartholomew Close, Smithfield, London as the eldest child of Richard Hogarth and Anne Gibbons (Bindman, ODNB). His father was a poor Latin school teacher and textbook writer who later opened an unsuccessful Latin-speaking coffee shop in London. Due to his poor upbringing, Hogarth could not attend a university or professional training for his art. Instead, at the age of 16 in 1714, he ended up at a silver shop owned by Ellis Gamble on Cranbourne Street, Leicester Fields, London as an apprentice. In 1720, at the age of 23, Hogarth left his apprenticeship and opened his own shop where he made copper and silver engravings. To develop his skills, Hogarth attended classes at St. Martin’s Lane. Later in 1724, Hogarth started attending drawing school at the home of historic painter Sir. James Thornhill, whom he admired. By the age of 30, Hogarth had a fully-fledged career as an artist with his satirical pieces where he was critical of the social life in London (“William Hogarth Biography, Life & Quotes”) . In 1729, Hogarth married Thornhill’s daughter Jane. Though they never had kids, they lived a happy life together in London and the Essex countryside. As his career continued, he grew more popular with his controversial works. On October 25th, 1764, at the age of 66, William Hogarth died in his home of a ruptured artery. He was later buried in the Chiswick countryside (Bindman, ODNB).
"The Four Stages of Cruelty"
The “Four Stages of Cruelty” by William Hogarth was published in February of 1751. These pieces were made using etching and engraving (“The Four Stages of Cruelty - Graphic Arts”). In this series of works, Hogarth depicts the four stages of cruelty as seen through the character Tom Nero’s actions from a young boy to death. The first and second plates of the series are not seen in this exhibit, but the first depicts Nero as a boy torturing a dog in the streets of London in the first plate. In the second plate, he is seen as an adult and is working as a coach driver and beating his horse with a broken leg. The plate series follows Tom Nero’s increasingly barbaric actions, from animal cruelty to murder, theft, and seduction.
Tom Nero’s violent actions have escalated in the third plate, titled the “Cruelty in Perfection." The text at the bottom of the print reads, “To lawless Love when once betray’d, soon crime to crime succeeds: At length beguil’d to theft, the maid By her beguiler bleeds. Yet learn, Seducing Man.’ nor Night. with all its sable Cloud. Can screen the guilty deed from sight; Foul Murder cries aloud. The gaping wounds, and blood stain’d steel. Now shock his trembling Soul: But Oh! what Pangs his Breast must feel. When Death his knell shall toll” (“The Four Stages of Cruelty - Graphic Arts”). In this piece, Nero is seen being arrested for murdering his pregnant lover, Ann Gill. The men arresting him can be seen finding a knife and pistol in Nero’s jacket. Two pocket watches, a chest, and a makeshift bag made from a sheet with a teapot and candlestick can be seen on the ground. Indicting that Nero has turned to thievery to make a living now. Two letters can be seen, one folded and one opened. Both letters are addressed to Nero from his mistress. It can be inferred that Ann Gill, as a maid, was helping Nero steal and that they were possibly running away together. However, something went wrong, leading to her murder.
In the final piece of the series, “The Reward of Cruelty,” Tom Nero has been punished for his actions. The caption on this print reads, “Behold the Villain’s dire disgrace! Not Death itself can end. He finds no peaceful Burial-lace; His breathless Corse, no friend. Tom from the Root, that wicked Tongue, which daily swore and curst! Those Eyeballs from their Socket nrung. That glori’d with lawless Lust. His Heart expos’d to prying Eyes. To pity but no Claim. But dreadful from his Bones shall rise, His Monument of Shame,” (“The Four Stages of Cruelty - Graphic Arts”). Tom Nero has been executed for his crimes by hanging. He is now being dissected for an audience of doctors and scholars. He is seen being fileted open with his organs being taken out, his eyes being cut out, and his feet being dissected. In the eighteenth century, when the piece was created, cadavers were acquired by graverobbing or using the bodies of hanged criminals. For Nero, it is another “reward” for his cruelty (Saska, The Art that Made Medicine). A dog is eating his heart in the foreground of the painting. It is a full-circle moment from the first stage where he is seen torturing a dog. Even after death, he is being punished for his life of cruelty.
- Ren O'Brien
Milton’s Perspective: Larger Political Context and Reception
Milton’s works were at many times political and subversive. He had a history of criticizing the Catholic church in earlier works. (Campbell 2004) He had a commitment to humanist values which influenced his writings. Humanism is defined as an intellectual movement dedicated to human involvement and the rejection of the medieval past (Nederman 2019). These values influenced his personal life as he was suspended from Christ’s College because he was unwilling to conform hating logical disputations influenced by the Middle Ages (Milton 1861). Milton additionally subscribed to republicanism (Milton 1991) believing in the value of freedom to be a concept of nondomination and the support of institutions which protect it (Nederman 2019). This political belief was likely influenced by Milton’s witness of the English Civil War and the betrayal of Charles II and subsequent hardening of royalist politics (Maltzahn 1996, 480). He may have delayed the publication of Paradise Lost from as early as 1663 (Maltzahn 1996, 479) as Milton was hesitant to publish anything in an environment where the restorationist government was quick to censor (Maltzahn 1996, 480). Paradise Lost was published in a period where literature was characterized by discontentment and pessimism with an overwhelming apocalyptic and macabre tone likely influenced by British politics of the time (Maltzahn 1996).
Prose and Reception
Milton used unrhymed iambic pentameter when writing Paradise Lost. At the time, many critics questioned why his work did not rhyme (Maltzahn 1996). He defended his verse claiming he was saving the ancient, “Heroic Poem” (Maltzahn 1996, 479) from the modern bondage of rhyming. He drew from classic Greek poetry using iambic pentameter and invoking the muses at the beginning of his books. In book VII, Milton invoked the muse Urania calling for her in meaning and not name. There is debate as to what Milton means by this as Urania has been a pagan figure who has come to represent homosexuality, (Haan 1993) but she is also, in meaning, the muse of astronomy (Dolloff 2006).
Sympathetic Satan and Resulting Controversy
Milton likely wrote Satan as a character into his work in a need for moral duality, isolating evil into a single entity (Carey 1999). Perhaps this need was influenced by his Puritan upbringing (Shuger 2012). However, in his need to create moral duality through Satan’s personification, Milton accomplishes the opposite creating a sympathetic Satan. Through an understanding of Satan’s fallen mentality and his internal struggle searching for a justification to his actions, the audience can better understand Satan (Rebhorn 1973). The beginning of book IV opens with Satan’s affliction of knowing he cannot be saved falling “into many doubts with himself” (Milton 1688). The illustrators made a similar error. Whether they were attempting to capture Milton’s intended meaning, or the implication of his writing is unclear, but they characterize Satan in a human light creating him in a human image. Through detailed printing technique, Satan looks aesthetically and stylistically pleasing. Using clean lines and hatching to depict Satan and his fallen angels, the illustrators create images lacking unease when depicting Satan and hs fallen angels.
- Abigail Lowe
James Gillray
James Gillray was a British printmaker, satirist, caricaturist, and cartoonist in the of late 18th and early 19th century. Often dubbed the "the father of the political cartoon" his work, largely focused on criticizing the French Revolution and British politics, was well known and extremely influential. Gillray was born on the thirteenth of August in 1756 in Middlesex, Great Britain and died the first of June in 1815 at the age of fifty-eight in the City and Liberty of Westminster (McConnell and Hennage, ODNB). This allowed him to see, and make art portraying, the French Revolution, massive changes in the British government, the madness of King George, and the rise of Napoleon, all within his lifetime.
“The Apotheosis of HOCHE” (1798)
In this etching Hoche can be seen playing a guillotine as if it were an instrument while the background is devastated by super-natural and military forces. This is clearly meant to represent the utter cause and perceived godlessness of the French Revolution.
“An Excrescence; – a Fungus; – alias – a Toadstool upon a Dung-hill.” (1791)
This satiric caricature portrays Prime Minister William Pitt, quite literally, as a fungus upon the British crown. And the title even goes so far as to equate to crown, and by extension the king, to a dunghill.
- Jacob Christ