Mark Phillips, professor in the Department of History and ICSLAC, will present on “Hogarth and History Painting,” on Friday, November 20th at 2:30pm in 412 St. Patrick’s Building. The free lecture, open to all, is sponsored by the Friends of Art History.
WGL4469 David Garrick as Richard III, 1745 (oil on canvas) by Hogarth, William (1697-1764); 190.5×250 cm; © Walker Art Gallery, National Museums Liverpool; (add.info.: David Garrick (1717-79) British actor;); English, out of copyright
To examine Hogarth’s art through the lens of history painting must seem a peculiar choice, but Phillips hopes to show that Hogarth offers a particularly instructive example of the unique status of history painting as well as of it corresponding fragility. Equally, Hogarth worked in a number of hybridized genres, where he found opportunities to stretch the boundaries of history painting while retaining many of its attractions. More than his “histories,” these mediated genres would point the way to the future of history painting in Britain. Theatre painting in particular played this role for Hogarth.