Innocents: Images in Hogarth's Painting

Why are children so often shown imprisoned in Hogarth's pictures? And why do his dogs appear to parody the behavior of humans? From this investigation we learn how Hogarth's own childhood fueled his obsession with the corruption of society and its treatment of innocence. We see how animals and children in his early work represent small, socially acceptable disruptions of an otherwise strict social order, a muted comment on the behavior or character of the adults who are the main subjects of paintings like The Wollaston Family and A Modern Midnight Conversation. In his later work his social criticism becomes harsher as the innocents are themselves corrupted and, as in Marriage à la Mode, destroyed. Finally The Shrimp Girl is identified as Hogarth's quintessential portrait of uncorrupted purity, although the painting's style reveals his bitter view that such purity is always ephemeral.

© 1998-2001 The Roland Collection & Pira Intl.