To my mind, William Hogarth was quite simply one of the greatest English artists. He’s best known for several series of paintings, such as “The Rake’s Progress”, and for engravings such as this one, “Gin Lane”. Hogarth’s depictions, and implicit moral commentaries upon, the London life he saw around him have given rise to the adjective Hogarthian, descriptive of the immorality of the Georgian era of rakes and harlots.
The engraving I’ve copied, “Gin Lane” is one of Hogarth’s most famous. It’s actually one of a pair he made in 1751, the other being “Beer Street”. Taken together they are a commentary on the evils of gin drinking, compared to beer drinking. In late 17th and early -mid 18th century London huge gin consumption, caused by a variety of factors, was seen as responsible for an array of social problems, as the urban poor sought relief from poverty through the escape offered by cheap gin. In the picture itself we can see the child falling to its death, a victim of starvation, mob violence and homes falling to pieces.
I’ve always loved Hogarth anyway, but about a decade ago, while researching my family history, I found that my great, great, great, great, great grandfather was a cartoonist and engraver called Philip Dawe, who was a pupil of William Hogarth.
This took hours and hours to do, but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.
