Satire on hogarth on the occasion of the 'grand exhibition of the society of sign-painters' held in bow street from 22 april to 8 june 1762, showing hogarth as a monkey hanging in place of a sign-board outside the exhibition; he holds a paper lettered "a burlesks on young art &c &c &c"; the devil sits on the beam above saying "i have made a fine fire with architectonicalls &c. ["the five orders of perriwigs. Measured architectonically", october 1761, paulson 1989, 209] i am waiting for the body" and holds a paper lettered, "a hymn to ye tune of little davy" (perhaps a reference to david garrick); men entering the exhibition refer disparagingly to hogarth's painting "sigismunda" shown the previous year, notably a man described as tancred (sigismunda's father in bocaccio's tale); his companion states that the subject of hogarth's painting was in fact "the cook at the turk's head a going to broil a bullocks heart, twas a mistake of ye catalogue printers who calld her sigismundy"; in the foreground a ragged shoe black complains, "now my father has left his paint brushes since he's hang'd mol hackabout [the protagonist of "a harlot's progress"] & i must black shoes with them or starve". Etching. Date: circa 1762. Dimensions: Height: 185 mm (image); Height: 204 mm (trimmed?); Width: 236 mm (image); Width: 243 mm (trimmed?). Medium: paper. Depicted People: William Hogarth. Collection: British Museum. A Sign for an Ex(i)b(i)t(i)on (BM 1868,0808.4169)
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