Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse [SEP] creator
Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse
Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse (originally known as The Artist Painting the Comic Muse) is a painting in the National Portrait Gallery, London by the British artist William Hogarth. It was painted in approximately 1757 and published as a print in etching and engraving in 1758, with its final and sixth state in 1764. Hogarth used this particular self-portrait as the frontispiece of his collected engravings, published in 1764.
The painting depicts Hogarth himself painting the Muse of Comedy, which represented artistic
The Analysis of Beauty", a text which was written to complement this particular piece. X-ray analysis shows that the painting originally had a small dog relieving himself on a pile of old master paintings.
The print of "Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse" went through several alterations mostly relating to the inscription at the bottom of the page. In the second state, the inscription read: "W Hogarth Sergeant Painter to His Majesty. The Face Engrav'd by W Hogarth and Publish'd as the Act directs". The