William Hogarth Benjamin Smith (1 results)

No Binding. Condition: Good. Size: Frame 49.5 x 59 cm, print inside mount 29.5 x 39 cm Condition: The print is a good impression, but there is a repaired tear and some creasing top left, and a scratch on the dog which has been touched in - the price reflects these faults and the print still displays well. The frame and mount are new. Hogarth completed his famous self portrait in 1745 when he was already an established and famous painter and engraver. He also engraved his own version in 1749, but later re-used the engraved plate to produce a print satirising the poet and satirist Charles Churchill. It fell to the engraver Benjamin Smith to engrave this copy of the original painting in 1795 for the publishers J and J Boydell, who used it as a frontispiece in collections of Hogarth's original works published by them. The oval canvas containing Hogarth's portrait appears propped up on volumes of Shakespeare, Swift and Milton, authors who inspired Hogarth's commitment to drama, satire and epic poetry. On his palette is the 'Line of Beauty and Grace', which underpinned Hogarth's theories on art. Hogarth's pug dog, Trump, serves as an emblem of the artist's own pugnacious character. This portrait acted as a statement of the artist's professional ambition.