William Hogarth
A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ VI
(1731)
Tate
William Hogarth’s modern moral paintings are typically created as a series. The first series, A Harlot’s Progress 1732, is six scenes showing a country vicar’s daughter arriving in London, being corrupted and eventually dying in misery. Unsurprisingly it was a smash hit. Other major series are A Rake’s Progress and Marriage à la Mode. The idea appears first in A Scene from The Beggar’s Opera.
Hogarth made engraved copies of the paintings which sold widely.
