by-nc

Time Smoking a Picture

Maker

(artist)
1697-1764

(engraver)
1697-1764

Title

Time Smoking a Picture

Date of Production

1761

Medium

medium : material : ink & support : material : paper

Dimensions

Height: 23 cm
Width: 18.5 cm

Accession Number

G.1990.WL.2122

Mode of Acquisition

Witt Library, transfer, 1990

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords











Label Text

Hogarth famously mistrusted collectors, connoisseurs and dealers. Obscure classical texts inscribed on the print challenge their taste for darkened Old Master paintings, while Time’s scythe pierces the canvas and ‘smokes’ the painting to age it artificially. Using mezzotint (a technique invented to imitate oil painting) to highlight the ‘Claudian’ landscape, Hogarth incorporates a satire within a satire. The print was originally issued as a subscription ticket for an engraving after one of his paintings.

Provenance

Information not yet known or updated

Exhibition History

Purpose and Process: British and French Printmaking 1600 - 1900, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/05/2014-20/06/2014

Hogarth and Piranesi: Engravings and etchings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 09/03/1992-07/06/1992

Literature

Bindman, David, Hogarth and his times: serious comedy, London and Berkeley 1997
no. 55 on p. 113

Paulson, Ronald, Hogarth's Graphic Works, 3rd rev. ed., London 1989
no. 208
ill. on p. 406 (state I)

Inscriptions

Inscription: inscription : printed : lower margin & recto : : As Statues moulder into Worth. P:W: / To Nature. to feel. Anon: //

Information on this object may be incomplete and will be updated as research progresses. We are particularly committed to addressing any discriminatory or offensive language and ideas that might be present in our records. To help improve this record, and to enquire about images of The Courtauld Gallery Collection, please email gallery.collectionsonline@courtauld.ac.ukFind out more about using and licensing our images.

____________________________

Buy a print from our collection