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Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn

French toile fabric with oriental scenes in red on a white ground. Pattern repeats and includes scenes of life.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • French toile fabric with oriental scenes in red on a white ground. Pattern repeats and includes scenes of life.

Date:

May 1738

Artist:

William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764

About this artwork

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.

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https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/80820/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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