Satire on hogarth and the 'grand exhibition of the society of sign-painters' organised by bonnell thornton in bow street from 22 april to 8 june 1762. Hogarth (a) is shown as a pug sitting at an easel on a close stool, lettered "camera obscura or idea box/rubens. Van dyke. Rembrant. " from which protrudes a sheet of the st james's chronicle (recently founded by thornton); behind him stands envy (b), perhaps intended as mrs hogarth, with snakes that bite his forehead ("a motive") and hold his brushes; on the easel are two canvases, one with a version of his "sigismonda", labelled "the sign of a heavy heart", and another with a depiction of the fable of the ox and the frog; an owl (c) perches above defecating on hogarth's palette from which protrudes the line of beauty, labelled "a lame principle"; behind the canvas are (d) "four emminent master sign-painters compilers of a twelfpenny catalogue, retailers of stale wit, and comentaters on their own folly vide st. James cron. ", one is a boy with his breeches down, the other a man represented as an ass wearing spectacles on whose head a bat defecates, another man with ass's ears and the fourth a clergyman (these presumably include thornton and his associate george colman); in the background to right, "some obscure journymen" (e) leave the scene and (f) "mr - mum" skips, holding a palette above his head; folly (g) hovers above; on the left, a sign lettered, "here we expose our heads & hearts price 1s. " hangs avove a doorway lettered, "exhibit/bo" through which can be seen a man holding a club. Many references to the book of proverbs appear on labels throughout the image; title and key below. 1762
etching. Date: 1762. Dimensions: Height: 274 mm; Width: 224 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: William Hogarth. Collection: British Museum. A brush for the sign-painters (BM Cc,3.150)
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