William Hogarth

William Hogarth was born in London, November 10, 1697 and died in London, October 26, 1764.

Throughout his career, Hogarth sought the elevation of the artist in English society. He served an apprenticeship to the silver engraver Ellis Gamble in 1713, and thereafter began an independent career as an engraver of metalwork and prints. In 1724 he began attending drawing classes at Sir James Thornhill's Free Academy, marrying Thornhill's daughter five years later. He painted the first of his "modern moral subject" pictures, A Harlot's Progress, in 1732 and also engraved the series. Because of the many piracies of his prints, Hogarth lobbied for the passage of the Engravers' Copyright Act of 1734. The next year he re-organized Cherón and Vanderbank's drawing academy in St. Martin's Lane. On a visit to France in 1748 with Francis Hayman, Thomas Hudson, and other artists, he was arrested as a spy while sketching. He published his aesthetic theories in The Analysis of Beauty (1753) and succeeded his father-in-law as Sergeant-Painter to the King in 1757. Although his attempts at history painting were ill-received, his "modern moral subjects" and lucrative production of engravings proved highly influential.