William Hogarth

William Hogarth was born on 10 November 1697 in the City of London, into a lower-middle-class family. His father’s financial troubles, including a stint in debtors’ prison, left a lasting impression on the young artist and later informed the sharp social critique in his work. Hogarth began an apprenticeship with an engraver but did not complete it, instead forging his own path as a painter, engraver, satirist, and writer. He is best known for his serialized “modern moral subjects”—essentially early comic strips—such as *A Harlot’s Progress*, *A Rake’s Progress*, and *Marriage A-la-Mode*. His style, a satirical blend of French and Italian influences, often featured bawdy caricature and realistic portraiture, and became so widely imitated that political cartoons in that vein are still called “Hogarthian.” His prints were mass-produced and hugely popular, making him the most significant English artist of his generation. Writer Charles Lamb observed that Hogarth’s images function like books, rich with meaning. Hogarth died on 26 October 1764. His work appears in our catalog across 14 issues, including *The Comick Magazine*, *Bell’s Life in London*, and the EC horror titles *Tales from the Crypt* and *The Vault of Horror*, as well as *Tout l’œuvre peint de Hogarth*.