Person    | Male  Born 10/11/1697  Died 26/10/1764

William Hogarth

Categories: Art, Seriously Famous

Satirical artist and illustrator. Trained as an engraver, he depicted the unseemly behaviour of contemporaries in works like 'The Beggar's Opera' (1728) and 'A Rake's Progress' (1732). Much of his work was pirated and he was instrumental in the passing of the Copyright Act of 1735 which was known at the time as 'Hogarth's Act'. A governor of the Foundling Hospital. Born in Bartholomew Close, Smithfield, he lived in 'Leicester Fields' from 1726 until his death, and he died at home, the east side of Leicester Square. He was buried in Chiswick Parish at St. Nicholas, London, W4.

There are similarities between Hogarth and Dickens: the father being in a debtors' prison; the later successful representation of the individual lives of the poor.

A information board near the Chiswick statue gives: 
In 1749 William Hogarth bought a small house at the edge of the riverside village of Chiswick. He could afford his “little country box” because of the success of his print sales. Over the next 15 years he added new rooms on the south side and a new second floor. Here he entertained family and friends as well as abandoned children from London’s Foundling Hospital, where he was a governor.
After his death William’s family continue to use the Chiswick house. Hogarth was buried at St Nicholas Church, along with his sister, his wife and her mother. His great friend, the actor David Garrick, wrote the epitaph carved on the magnificent tomb.
Since 1904 Hogarth’s House has been a small museum in his memory and the nearby roundabout is named after him. 
London was Hogarth's home for his whole life and its streets and people appear in his pictures. His family was not rich, his father was even imprisoned for debt and William left his apprenticeship with a silver engraver before he finished his training. However, he became a very successful painter and print-maker.
Hogarth was a sharp businessman, selling his prints in the 1730s and '40s by subscription to middle class collectors who paid for them in advance. However, his series of prints telling moral stories were so popular that pirate versions were made by other print-sellers. His campaign for the first copyright law to protect artists' work succeeded in 1735.
After he became financially secure he worked from his town house in Leicester Fields (where the Leicester Square Odeon now stands). His widow, Jane, continued producing and selling his prints from there after his death in 1764.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
William Hogarth

Commemorated ati

Hogarth - Harrow on the Hill

Looking to connect Hogarth with Harrow we found: c.1800 Crown Street in Harro...

Read More

Hogarth plaque - gone

William Hogarth, artist, 1697 - 1764, sergeant painter to King George II live...

Read More

Hogarth statue

Unveiled by Ian Hislop and David Hockney. Funded by donations from individual...

Read More

Show all 12

Other Subjects

Arthur Morrison

Arthur Morrison

Writer and novelist. Born at 14 John Street, Poplar. He wrote detective novels and stories about working-class life in London's East End. His best known work was 'A Child of the Jago', set in a fic...

Person, Art, Literature

1 memorial
Art in the Park

Art in the Park

Art in the Park is a charity devoted to enriching Londoners' lives and environment through visual arts. They run art and performance based education and training workshops, and are involved in comm...

Group, Art, Gardens / Agriculture, Philanthropy

1 memorial
Peggy Fortnum

Peggy Fortnum

Illustrator. Born in Harrow, Margaret Fortnum has illustrated about 80 children's books, most famously the Paddington series from the beginning to 1974. Andrew Behan has researched Fortnum: Margar...

Person, Art

2 memorials
Sir Charles Eastlake

Sir Charles Eastlake

First Director of the National Gallery. President of the Royal Academy. First President of the Royal Photographic Society. One of the Commissioners for the Great Exhibition. Born in Plymouth, son ...

Person, Art, Politics & Administration, Italy

2 memorials
Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE, FBA

Sir Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich, OM, CBE, FBA

Art historian. Ernst Hans Josef Gombrich was born in Vienna, which was then part of Austria-Hungary. He fled to Britain, after his first book 'A Little History of the World' was banned by the Nazi ...

Person, Art, History, Austria

1 memorial