William Hogarth Prints

Despite the relatively traditional nature of 18th century art, William Hogarth prints remain highly prized today, both those made at the time directly from his paintings, as well as more modern creations which allow us to celebrate this extraordinary career.

Within his own lifetime, Hogarth would innovate within the process of printing in order to commercialise some of his paintings and ensure a steady stream of income right across the year. He found interest within England as well as abroad for his innovative designs and eventually found that simply producing oil paintings could not satisfy all those interested in his work. Eventually he would make use of engravings and prints to produce approved copies of his designs, and these could be distributed for relatively small sums across Europe. Doing so also allowed poorer parts of society to become interested and knowledgeable about art, which would have appealed to the artist as he was from a similar background himself. Today you will find print reproductions of Hogarth paintings available from most major retailers, and they have the benefit of taking advantage of improved technologies and production techniques.