Catalog Archive
Auction 98, Lot 453

"[Lot of 2] Canvassing for Votes [and] The Polling", Hogarth, William

Subject: Politics

Period: 1801 (dated)

Publication:

Color: Black & White

Size:
21.2 x 15.6 inches
53.8 x 39.6 cm
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Great pair of satirical engravings from Hogarth's last series - An Election. Hogarth used the 1754 election in Oxfordshire for inspiration. The series provides a fascinating commentary on political corruption. These two (from a series of four) plates are crammed with figures from every walk of life up to their ears in every imaginable form of electoral chicanery. Canvassing for Votes shows a sly and knowing farmer who is 'allowing' himself to be bribed by two innkeepers, one from the Royal Oak (Tory) and another from the Crown (Whig). In The Polling, Hogarth ridicules the elaborate trickery by which the sick and maimed are dragged to the polls and lawyers argue as to whether a man who has a hook for hand can 'properly' swear on the bible. Engraved by T. Cook, after Hogarth, and published by G.G. & J. Robinson.

References:

Condition: A

Clean crisp impressions with some marginal flaws.

Estimate: $400 - $450

Sold for: $240

Closed on 3/6/2002

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