Antique Master Print-TAILPIECE-BATHOS-DECAY-FATHER TIME-Cook-Hogarth-1798

Description

A surreal and satirical composition depicting various symbols of decay and ruin, such as a broken column, a fallen hourglass, a shattered palette, and a desolate landscape. In the center, a winged figure (possibly representing time) lies slumped over, surrounded by relics of the arts and sciences, with items like a telescope, a book, and a painter’s palette scattered around, emphasizing the theme of decay.

Made by Thomas Cook after William Hogarth.

Medium: Etching and engraving on wove (vellin) paper.

Sheet size: 65.5 x 49 cm (25.79 x 19.29 inch). Image size: 33.7 x 32.1 cm. (13.27 x 12.64 inch).

Condition: good, given age. With creasin and a diagonal fold. 2 small tears in top paper edge. General age-related toning and/or occasional minor defects from handling. Please study scan carefully.

WILLIAM HOGARTH, BATHOS, TAILPIECE, SATIRE, BRITISH PRINT, 18TH-CENTURY, ALLEGORY, DECAY, SYMBOLISM, END OF AN ERA, ART HISTORY, ENGRAVING, ETCHING, DARK HUMOR, CULTURAL CRITIQUE | PCO-B8-11

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Source: unknown, to be determined.

Reference: “Acquisitions of the Art Museum 1988,” Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 48, no. 1 (1989): p. 35-59., p. 47.

Biography engraver: Thomas Cook (c.1744-1818) was an English engraver, known particularly for his engravings of the works of William Hogarth.

Biography artist: William Hogarth (1697-1764) was an influential English painter, engraver, and satirist, renowned for his biting social commentary and humorous depictions of 18th-century British society. Through works like “The Rake’s Progress” and “Marriage ?-la-Mode,” Hogarth critiqued the moral decay and hypocrisy of his time. “The Bathos” is regarded as his final work, a satirical farewell to art and life.