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. 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.
For Hudibras’s First Adventure, William Hogarth juxtaposed the grotesque and the heroic. The unsavory protagonist confronts an equally ugly mob of angry townspeople, complete with wooden legs and a sickly trained bear.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- William Hogarth
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Title
- Hudibras' First Adventure, plate three from Hudibras
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Place
- England (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- 1725–1726
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Medium
- Etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge mounted on cream wove paper
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Dimensions
- Image: 24.6 × 33.4 cm (9 11/16 × 13 3/16 in.); Plate: 27.3 × 34.5 cm (10 3/4 × 13 5/8 in.); Primary support: 27.6 × 34.8 cm (10 7/8 × 13 3/4 in.); Secondary support: 36 × 45.9 cm (14 3/16 × 18 1/8 in.)
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Credit Line
- Sara R. Shorey Endowment; purchased with funds provided by Phyllis Neiman and the Woman's Board in honor of Phyllis Neiman
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Reference Number
- 2005.136.3
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/184608/manifest.json
Extended information about this artwork
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