Image of Gallery in South Kensington
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Before

Print
15/12/1736 (published)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Etching and engraving, 2nd state, from a pair entitled 'Before' and 'After'. Two lovers are depicted in a bedroom with a seated man grabbing a woman who pushes him away with one hand on his face. The man in the scene has been identified as Sir John Willes, Walpole Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The satirical print is laden with innuendo to scandalise him as a notorious womaniser, notably the Cupid poised to shoot an arrow towards the couple and a book of erotic poems by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) visible on the top of the dressing table.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleBefore (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Etching and engraving
Brief description
Etching and engraving by William Hogarth entitled 'Before'. British, 1736.
Physical description
Etching and engraving, 2nd state, from a pair entitled 'Before' and 'After'. Two lovers are depicted in a bedroom with a seated man grabbing a woman who pushes him away with one hand on his face. The man in the scene has been identified as Sir John Willes, Walpole Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. The satirical print is laden with innuendo to scandalise him as a notorious womaniser, notably the Cupid poised to shoot an arrow towards the couple and a book of erotic poems by John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester (1647-1680) visible on the top of the dressing table.
Dimensions
  • Height: 57cm
  • Width: 44.5cm (Note: sheet)
Style
Credit line
Bequeathed by John Forster
Object history
This pair of prints was popular throughout Hogarth lifetime but after death, the artist's wife Jane Thornhill, and Hogarth's publisher John Boydell, suppressed it from most bound editions of the printed works. In certain cases they were placed inside a separate folder in the back of the volume.
Subjects depicted
Collection
Accession number
F.118:94

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Record createdMarch 11, 2020
Record URL
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