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After

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 post-coitally in a bedroom with a seated woman lovingly pawing a man who is awkwardly doing his trousers up. 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 pointing lasciviosuly towards the couple from a picture on the wall; the broken dressing table; and the quote on the upturned book on the floor: 'Omne Animal Post Coitum Triste'.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleAfter (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Etching and engraving
Brief description
Etching and engraving by William Hogarth entitled 'After'. British, 1736.
Physical description
Etching and engraving, 2nd state, from a pair entitled 'Before' and 'After'. Two lovers are depicted post-coitally in a bedroom with a seated woman lovingly pawing a man who is awkwardly doing his trousers up. 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 pointing lasciviosuly towards the couple from a picture on the wall; the broken dressing table; and the quote on the upturned book on the floor: 'Omne Animal Post Coitum Triste'.
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
Associated object
F.118:94 (Pair)
Collection
Accession number
F.118:95

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Record createdMarch 11, 2020
Record URL
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