A major new biography of one of Britain's best-loved artists
One of Christie's Best Art Books of the Year
'Deft and richly detailed ... rescues the artist from John Bull caricature' - Michael Prodger, Sunday Times
On a late spring night in 1732, a boisterous group of friends set out from their local pub. They are beginning a journey, a 'peregrination' that will take them through the gritty streets of Georgian London and along the River Thames as far as the Isle of Sheppey. And among them is an up-and-coming engraver and painter, just beginning to make a name for himself: William Hogarth.
Hogarth's vision, to a vast degree, still defines the eighteenth century. In this, the first biography for over twenty years, Jacqueline Riding brings him to vivid life, immersing us in the world he inhabited and from which he drew inspiration. At the same time, she introduces us to an artist who was far bolder and more various than we give him credit for: an ambitious self-made man, a devoted husband, a sensitive portraitist, an unmatched storyteller, philanthropist, technical innovator and author of a seminal work of art theory.
Following in his own footsteps from humble beginnings to professional triumph (and occasional disaster), Hogarth illuminates the work and life of a great artist who embraced the highest principles even while charting humanity's lowest vices.
About the Author
Dr Jacqueline Riding specialises in British history and art of the long eighteenth century. Formerly curator of the Palace of Westminster and Director of the Handel House Museum, she is the award-winning author of Peterloo: The Story of the Manchester Massacre and Jacobites: A New History of the '45 Rebellion, as well as a consultant for museums, galleries, historic buildings and feature films. She was the historical adviser on Mike Leigh's Mr. Turner (2014), Peterloo (2018) and Wash Westmoreland's Colette (2018). She lives in South London.
Industry Reviews
"'Deft and richly detailed ... rescues the artist from John Bull caricature' - Michael Prodger
'[An] excellent new biography ... Riding is particularly good on how the boy who was born into modest circumstances in 1697 spent much of the first half of his life wanting to be a 'proper' artist dealing with grand, historical subjects.' - Kathryn Hughes
'An entertaining ... richly worked and varied ""progress"" ... amid the displays of wounded vanity and cantankerous self-assertion, there remains something hugely impressive, and rather attractive, in the Hogarth who emerges from these pages' - Matthew Sturgis
'Marvellous and timely ... a vivid and compelling reconstruction of the settings of Hogarth's life and artistic achievements, and of the nature of the man' - Linda Colley, author
'A special book that drops you heart first into Hogarth's world - like the great man's canvasses, it is full of richness, originality and considered humour, unafraid to shock with thrilling new insight' - Dr Gus Casely-Hayford, Director of V&A East and Professor of Practice, SOAS"
