Hogarth, France and British Art: The Rise of the Arts in 18th-Century Britain

Hogarth has long been viewed as an insular and chauvinistic individual, with a particular aversion to all things French. On the contrary, while Hogarth himself liked to project this image, his effective invention of British art was founded upon a profound knowledge of contemporary French art and theory. This lavishly illustrated book conjures up in great detail the French and wider European context within which Hogarth's art was formed. Robin Simon examines the ways in which Hogarth interacted with and influenced his contemporaries not only in painting and printmaking, but also in sculpture, poetry, the novel, the theater, public life, art education, copyright law, music and opera. In this wide-ranging but richly detailed book, full of analyses of individual works, the author draws upon a mass of new material, with fresh analyses of Hogarth's most famous and less well-known works alike, opening a window on to one of the most creative and formative periods in British life. Robin Simon, FSA, is Editor of The British Art Journal, having been Editor of Apollo magazine and a tenured university academic for many years before that. He is the author of many scholarly articles on British art, and his books include The Portrait in Britain and America (1987).