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Frontispiece, plate one from Hudibras

A work made of etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge mounted on cream wove paper.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge mounted on cream wove paper.

Date:

February 1725/26

Artist:

William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764

About this artwork

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

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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