William Hogarth (1697-1764) was among the first British-born artists to rise to international recognition and acclaim and to this day he is considered one of the country's most celebrated and innovative masters. His output encompassed engravings, paintings, prints, and editorial cartoons that presaged western sequential art. This comprehensive catalogue of his paintings brings together over twenty years of scholarly research and expertise on the artist, and serves to highlight the remarkable diversity of his accomplishments in this medium. Portraits, history paintings, theater pictures, and genre pieces are lavishly reproduced alongside detailed entries on each painting, including much previously unpublished material relating to his oeuvre. This deeply informed publication affirms Hogarth's legacy and testifies to the artist's enduring reputation. Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art

A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, Before and After, and Marriage a la Mode are among the prints presented with descriptive notes and an introductory discussion of Hogarth's style

A window into the past which shows us how far we have or haven't come Hogarth's pictures are among the most iconic of the 18th century--his raucous crowds, bustling streets, polite or not-so-polite companies, and all-too revealing tales of human folly, vividly bring the world around him to life. Their fame and popularity rest, above all, on their widespread circulation as prints, not only in England but around the globe, from the artist's lifetime to today.