Hymen and Cupid

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.