Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn

Prints and Drawings

May 1738

William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764

Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn was William Hogarth’s ardent protest against Robert Walpole’s Licensing Act of 1737. The act gave the British government the power to heavily censor theatrical productions. Sentimentalist domestic plays and Shakespeare were the only productions allowed on stage. Hogarth’s engraving shows actresses dressed as Classical deities preparing for a performance in a shabby and chaotic backstage setting. The artist critiqued the British government’s pompous attempt to whitewash the theater by juxtaposing the idealized characters the actresses will portray with the actresses’ reality.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: William Hogarth
Title: Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn
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.: 1738
Medium: Engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: Image: 42.3 × 53.8 cm (16 11/16 × 21 3/16 in.); Plate: 45 × 56.1 cm (17 3/4 × 22 1/8 in.); Sheet: 49.3 × 62.8 cm (19 7/16 × 24 3/4 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Horace S. Oakley
Reference Number: 1921.346
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/80820/manifest.json

Paulson 1965/70:156 IV/IV

Paulson 1989: 150 IV/IV

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