A Harlot's Progress: Hogarth's Comic History

William Hogarth’s A Harlot’s Progress, first published in 1732, is a series of satirical, moralizing prints that narrate the seduction and downfall of an innocent young girl. Engraved after a set of paintings, now lost, this series takes its format from the genre of history painting. Traditionally, history painting was concerned with stories of mythological or biblical figures. Hogarth’s characters, however, are ordinary people who enact a tale of folly and vice. A Harlot’s Progress was the first of several such comic narratives with moral undertones and references to contemporary affairs and literature that Hogarth would produce in his lifetime. He came to refer to them as “modern moral subjects.”

Since Hogarth’s subjects were treated in a comic and satirical manner, they were sometimes deemed caricatures—a popular art form that originated in late sixteenth century Italy. Hogarth took exception to this label because he thought that the distortions of caricature precluded the depth of expression that could be achieved by naturalistic depiction. Examples of exaggerated representations by the Italian caricaturists Annibale Carracci and Pier Leone Ghezzi and an engraving that shows Hogarth’s opinion of their work conclude the exhibition.