Hogarth and Europe

Hogarth and Europe marks the first time that William Hogarth’s greatest works have been brought together with those of his peers across the continent. A timely exhibition for post-Brexit Britain, it reminds us of the cross currents, parallels and sympathies between the British Isles and the Continent at a time when society and culture were changing dramatically. This was an age of opportunity and change, enlightenment and innovation, but also of materialism, exploitation and injustice. In Britain,  Hogarth  became famous for paintings and prints that captured the new modern experience with energy, wit and humanity. But he was not alone. Francesco Guardi in Venice, Simeon Chardin in Paris, and Cornelis Troost in Amsterdam were also creating vivid images of contemporary life and social commentary. The rich and the poor, the immoral and self-deluding, the selfish and the selfless, were made characters in pictorial stories that caught people’s imaginations and took art in novel directions.