More On English Caricature and the 'Father Of English Caricature'

The book states that the Earliest English Satires were more of an antiquarian than visual interest, and reflect the poverty of English print history, although production of satire in the seventeenth century was sporadic, rising to peaks at times of crisis such as prelude to the civil war (and the Popish plot of 1679, which lead to the death of 15 men). To me this states the huge part that caricature and satire plays in keeping up with what is pushing everyone's emotional button within current times.




In 1720, the astonishing stock exchange disaster which took place in England attracted many satires from a handful of Dutch artists, but also young William Hogarth (who I'm quite interested in). What interests me so much about The Hogarthian world is how he illustrated his condemnation of moral vice and folly, but also for his delight in the spectacle of the human character in extremes of behaviour. Dubbed the 'Father Of English Caricature', He is the first English satirist to work on the same intellectual level as writers such as swift and defoe (referred to by some as one of the founders of the English novel) and inevitably his work dominates this whole period of history until his untimely death in 1764.
Im also a huge fan of political satire, which intruded in Hogarths work continually. The heart of his work lies in the series of paintings, popularized by his engravings The Harlots Progress, The Rakes Progress in 1735 (which I posted earlier on i the blog).