Art Institute of Chicago

Hudibras Catechized, plate nine from Hudibras

William Hogarth

Date

February 1725/26

Medium

Etching and engraving in black on cream paper edge, mounted on cream wove paper

Culture

England

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

The 12 plates in the Hudibras series represent the early work of William Hogarth; they were made before he began publishing on his own. Issued with verses from Samuel Butler’s poem as explanatory captions, Hudibras foreshadows the “moral progresses” for which Hogarth is perhaps best remembered. In this scene, Hudibras visits the woman he is wooing but is surprised by a group of masked attackers. Believing them to be spirits sent by the astrologer Sidrophel, Hudibras confesses his sins and, by extension, the sins of the Puritans as a whole.

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