2. William Hogarth
(1697-1764)

The Four Times of Day (set of 4) shown: Evening

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Hogarth: The Four Times of Day

The Four Times of Day (set of 4) shown: Evening

Engravings, 1738, 492 x 406 mm., Paulson 152-155. In his Four Times of Day series, Hogarth has created a double-edged satire of the corruption of human behavior in everyday London. He also has burlesqued a conventional humorless artistic theme, the times of day, commenting on the realities of modern manners, while giving a new twist to an old genre of art. Evening shows the disintegration of the traditional order of gender, male dominance. From the scolding girl, cuckolded husband, reveling women in the pub, down to the weary dog (probably male), the messages are parallel: men are henpecked. The only masculine assertion is the strategically placed walking stick between the bawling boy's legs. Good impressions, probably later 18th century, on laid paper with good margins; some repairs in the margins.