Frontispieces to Tristram Shandy

Biography:

William Hogarth (1697-1794)

Hogarth
was born in London, the son of an unsuccessful schoolmaster and writer
from Westmoreland. After apprenticeship to a goldsmith, he began to
produce his own engraved designs from 1710. He later took up oil
painting, starting with small portrait groups called conversation
pieces. He went on to create a series of paintings satirising
contemporary customs, but based on earlier Italian prints, of which the
first was ‘The Harlot’s Progress’ (1731), and perhaps the most famous
‘The Rake’s Progress’. His engravings were so plagiarised that he
lobbied for the Copyright Act of 1735 as protection for writers and
artists.