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Hudibras and the Lawyer, plate twelve 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 here depicted Hudibras’s visit to a lawyer who encourages the knight to write a letter to the woman he is courting. Just as Hudibras is a play on the popular figure of the “heroic knight,” Samuel Butler used his past experience in law to satirize the lawyer. Hogarth translated Butler’s humorous critique into the engraving by showing a robed and wigged lawyer sitting in his office like a king on his throne. Hogarth’s engravings of Butler’s satirical epic summarize the social and political environment in England with the same cleverness and wit seen in his later works, including the Marriage à la Mode and A Harlot’s Progress.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Prints and Drawings

Artist

William Hogarth

Title

Hudibras and the Lawyer, plate twelve 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: 24.5 × 34.4 cm (9 11/16 × 13 9/16 in.); Plate: 27 × 35.3 cm (10 11/16 × 13 15/16 in.); Primary support: 27.2 × 35.6 cm (10 3/4 × 14 1/16 in.); Secondary support: 36.8 × 47.6 cm (14 1/2 × 18 3/4 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

2005.136.12

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/184617/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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