Paul Before Felix

Prints and Drawings

c. 1751

William Hogarth
English, 1697–1764

Around 1747 William Hogarth completed a series of history paintings that were much more serious in tone than the satirical works on which he had built his fame. This drawing and Moses Brought to Pharaoh’s Daughter (2013.951) were both likely made after those paintings as studies for engravings. Paul before Felix, showing the apostle’s self-defense, was commissioned for the chapel of Lincoln’s Inn, where lawyers were admitted to the bar. Moses was similarly appropriate for its location, the London Foundling’s Hospital, as it shows the prophet’s mother reluctantly giving him up for adoption.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: William Hogarth
Title: Paul Before Felix
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.: Made 1746–1756
Medium: Various red chalks on cream laid paper
Dimensions: 39.5 × 51.5 cm (15 9/16 × 20 5/16 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection in memory of Lt. Col. Charles Albert Appel
Reference Number: 2011.641
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/186088/manifest.json

A.P. Oppe, The Drawings of William Hogarth (New York, 1948), p. 46.
Clovis Whitfield, “William Hogarth’s ‘Paul Before Felix’ at Lincoln’s Inn,” Burlington Magazine 113 (Mar. 1971), p. 210, fig. 54.
Suzanne Folds McCullagh (ed.), Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 2006), p. 68, cat. 39 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “Drawings in Dialogue: Old Master Through Modern, The Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection,” June 3–July 30, 2006, p. 38, cat. 39 (ill.).

Given by the artist to Dr. Munro [1792 auc. cat.]. (John?) Greenwood; sold, Apr. 30, 1792, lot 48. W. Willett, 1862. Edward Cheney [inscription and initials on the reverse]. F. Capel Cure; sold, Sotheby’s, London, May 15, 1905, lot 99, to Harvey [London 1975 auc. cat.]. Sold, Christie’s, London, June 17, 1975, lot 59, to P. & D. Colnaghi, London, for Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, MA; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2011.

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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.

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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.