Cruelty in Perfection...
Published according to Act of Parliment Feb.y. 1751. Price 1.d.
Engraving. 390 x 320mm. Light foxing to wide margins.
Hogarth explained his intention behind the four stages of cruelty in his 'Autobiographical Notes'; 'The four stages of cruelty, were done in hopes of preventing in some degree that cruel treatment of poor animals which makes the streets of London more disagreeable to the human mind, than any thing what ever.... it could not be done in to[o] strong a manner as the most stony heart[s] were ment to be affected by them'.
Paulson: p. 149, state i of i. Hogarth, W.: 'Autobiographical Notes' in The Analysis of Beauty, ed. Joseph Burke, Oxford, 1955, p. 226.
[Ref: 3223] £480.00