Illustrated biography; or, Memoirs of the great and the good of all nations and all times; comprising sketches of eminent statesmen, philosophers, heroes, artists, reformers, philanthropists, mechanics, navigators, authors, poets, divines, soldiers, savans, etc . cise his natural powers of observation and recollection. In his ram-bles among the motley scenes of London he was ever on the watch for strikingfeatures or incidents ; and, not trusting entirely to memory, he was accustomedwhen any face struck him as peculiarfy grotesque or expressive, to sketch it onhis thumb-nail, to be treasured up
Illustrated biography; or, Memoirs of the great and the good of all nations and all times; comprising sketches of eminent statesmen, philosophers, heroes, artists, reformers, philanthropists, mechanics, navigators, authors, poets, divines, soldiers, savans, etc . cise his natural powers of observation and recollection. In his ram-bles among the motley scenes of London he was ever on the watch for strikingfeatures or incidents ; and, not trusting entirely to memory, he was accustomedwhen any face struck him as peculiarfy grotesque or expressive, to sketch it onhis thumb-nail, to be treasured up on paper on his return home. For some time after the expiration of his apprenticeship, Hogarth continuedto practise the trade to which he was bred—engraving shop-bills, coats-of-arms,figures upon tankards, &c. Soon he procured employment in furnishing front-ispieces and designs for the booksellers. The most remarkable of these arethe plates to an edition of Hudibras, published in 1726. About 1728 he be-gan to seek employment as a portrait-painter. Most of his performances weresmall family pictures, containing several figures, which he calls ConversationPieces, from twelve to fifteen inches high. These for a time were very pop 16 242 WILLUM Portrait of Hogarth—from a. Painting by Himself. WILLIAM HOGARTH* fclaf, and his practice was considerable, as his price was low. Hig life-sizeportraits are few. In 1729 Hogarth contracted a stolen marriage with the only daughter of theonce fashionable painter, Sir James Thornhill. The father, for some time im-placable, relented at last; and the reconciliation, it is said, was much forwardedby his admiration of the Harlots Progress, a series of six prints, commencedin 1731, and published in 1734. The novelty, as well as merit of this seriesof prints, won for them extraordinary popularity ; and their success encouragedHogarth to undertake a similar history of the Rakes Progress, in eightprints, which appeared in 1735. The third,
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectbiography, bookyear18
