It is believed that the greatest contribution to painting was made by the Italians, French and Dutch, and we should not forget about our artists - many of their paintings are really good.
But English artists are not mentioned too often - and for nothing, England had many wonderful painters, one of the most famous and influential of them we will talk about in this article.
William Hogarth. Self-Portrait
William Hogarth (1697-1764) Hogarth happened to live in a very difficult time - there was a change of epochs, the transition from feudalism to bourgeois society, and the old concepts of chivalric honor seemed already empty and far-fetched. But enrichment by any means possible, the newfangled manufacturers and merchants considered as the most important dignity, the only possible way to get into the people. And gradually this moral decay began to permeate all strata of society. Hogarth didn't like it all, so he decided to open his fellow citizens' eyes to what was going on around them. To begin with, he painted a series of engravings entitled "The Career of a Prostitute", where he vividly showed the path of a real-life village girl, Mary.
William Hogarth. A career as a prostitute: trapped by a procuress.
She came to the city in search of a better life, but there was no suitable work. But the pretty girl was immediately approached by an elderly, slick procurer with an "interesting" offer.
Career as a prostitute. The scene at Bridewell
Convince young country girls she knew how to do well, so Mary went "down a crooked path" and joined the many thousands of army of London prostitutes, who in those years were in the status of outcasts of society, which, however, did not prevent all respectable gentlemen to use their services. But Mary soon contracted a "bad" disease and died.
Funeral
Hogarth felt it was his duty to bring her story to everyone, and to do so he opted for cheap and relatively accessible prints rather than classic oil paintings, which were only available to the well-to-do.
For aristocrats, on the other hand, he painted a series of "Fashionable Marriage" paintings. One of the most famous is "Tet-a-Tet."
Fashionable marriage. Tet-a-Tet.
There, an impoverished descendant of a noble family married the daughter of a merchant - the new masters of life. Formally, everyone got everything they wanted - the daughter was inbred with a representative of the upper class, and the hapless aristocrat thoroughly improved his financial situation. But this marriage of convenience did not bring happiness to anyone. The husband is already sick with syphilis, openly despises his wife and spends his nights in the company of merry girls - here he is resting in an armchair after another bender. But the wife is not lagging behind - in the evening she gathered the whole society, and spent the night with her lover, who obviously tried very hard and did not let her sleep well - that's why she stretches so sweetly.
A fashionable marriage. The Countess's boudoir
But it all ended sadly, although quite banal - one day the husband came home earlier than usual, caught his wife with her lover and challenged him to a duel.
A fashionable marriage. A duel and the death of an earl.
The latter turned out to be a nimble fellow and stabbed the aristocrat, exhausted by syphilis and nocturnal whoring. The court sentenced the lover to death on the gallows, and the wife could not survive the grief and committed suicide.
A fashionable marriage. Death of the Countess
Hogarth's paintings are somewhat similar to the works of our Perov - the same ironic attitude to his characters, the desire to stigmatize the vices of society, to show the plight of the "humiliated and oppressed". He very expressively managed to show the relationships between people, their passions and vices, this is no longer a caricature, but a great painting - it is no accident that they are distinguished by complex and harmonious combinations of colors.
Portrait of actor David Garrick and his wife
It is difficult to overestimate Hogarth's contribution to world art - it was he who became the founder of critical realism, in which our itinerant artists were so successful. But we have to admit - they were not the first in this direction, although they developed it to great heights.
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author of the article Mikhail Fedorin
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