Frontispiece, plate one from Hudibras

Prints and Drawings

February 1725/26

William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764

William Hogarth illustrated the story of a sad-sack adventurer named Hudibras in twelve engravings. His source was Samuel Butler’s satirical, mock-heroic poem written in the vein of Cervantes and Rabelais. Butler himself appears on a pedestal with mock-classical reliefs (showing Hudibras pulling a devil’s chariot) in the frontispiece to the series. Ridiculing the puritan party’s attempts to overthrow the British monarchy during the Great Civil War of 1640, Butler’s poem exposes the hypocrisy and pretensions of the Presbyterians, Independents, and Zealots who hoped to establish themselves as leaders.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: William Hogarth
Title: Frontispiece, plate one from Hudibras
Place: England (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1725–1726
Medium: Etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge mounted on cream wove paper
Dimensions: Image: 24 × 34.7 cm (9 1/2 × 13 11/16 in.); Plate: 26.4 × 35.3 cm (10 7/16 × 13 15/16 in.); Primary support: 26.9 × 35.6 cm (10 5/8 × 14 1/16 in.); Secondary support: 36.3 × 45.8 cm (14 5/16 × 18 1/16 in.)
Credit Line: Sara R. Shorey Endowment; purchased with funds provided by Phyllis Neiman and the Woman's Board in honor of Phyllis Neiman
Reference Number: 2005.136.1
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/184605/manifest.json

Paulson 1989: 82 I/IV

Paulson 1965/70: 73 I/IV

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.