Characters & Caricaturas. Original etching.
London: John Nichols and Son, circa 1820s. Etching and engraving. 20.6 × 20.0 cm (image) 31 x 39 cm. (sheet). Fold mark in upper left margin.
Paulson 156 iii/iii; BM Satires 2591. Edition3rd of 3 statesInscriptionprinted in ink l.l.-l.r.: Cartons Raphael Urbin Pinx. Cavl. Chezzi del. Annib Charraci invt. Leonard Da Vinci Pinx. / 3 Characters. 4 Caricaturas. / For a farthar Explanation of the Difference Betwixt Character & Caricatura See ye (e in superscript above y) Preface to Jo.h (h in superscript above . ) Andrews.
printed in ink l.r.: W Hogarth Fecit 1743
The traditional Identity Parade requires one suspect and a line-up of (say) 10 others. They should be lookalikes, roughly speaking. If they were too unlike, the identification would be too easy. But how like is too like?
William Hogarth's print Characters and Caricaturas is a kind of ID Parade. It's a picture with an argument. It's designed to demonstrate the superiority of the comic character face to the grotesque caricature. Hogarth saw them as radically different arts: one is the study of individual human nature; the other makes absurd formal play with human features.
In the strip along the bottom, at the left, three heads are quoted from paintings by Raphael, showing vivid but accurate portrayals of character. Then to the right there are a handful of heads by other Italian artists, stretched, squashed, with no psychological value, merely monstrous jokes. Item #51-3334
Price: $250.00