William Hogarth was the best known and most popular English artist of his time.

William Hogarth was the best known and most popular English artist of his time. Although an accomplished and talented portraitist, Hogarth was most notable and is best remembered for his “moralizing” art (intended to depict the ruinous consequences of vice and immorality) and for his pointed satirical works of political and social commentary. His 1755 four-painting cycle titled “The Humours of an Election” is a great example of the latter.


The paintings were inspired by the 1754 Parliamentary election in Oxfordshire. When the Whigs made a determined effort to win the seats in what had been a Tory stronghold, the Tories fought back vigorously, and the ensuing campaign and election was characterized by bribery, fraud, and chicanery. Hogarth’s paintings, which were widely reproduced as popular prints, satirized the stages of the electoral process—the wooing (and bribing) of the voters, election day itself, and the election aftermath.

The third painting in the series is titled “The Polling” (below right). As is typical of Hogarth’s satirical art, it is rich in detail. The two candidates are depicted sitting in chairs on an elevated dais, one of them scratching his bald head while looking down at a paper titled “Bill” (representing the cost of the bribes he’s had to pay). In the lower right a veteran who has lost both arms and a leg is attempting to vote, but his right to vote is being disputed because he doesn’t have a hand with which to take the oath. Behind him a man who is mentally incompetent is being directed on how to vote by a criminal (with shackles on his legs) who is whispering in his ear. Meanwhile a man is being carried up the stairs to vote who is either dead or very nearly so. In the background a coach with the British flag painted on its door has broken down, while the coachmen are playing cards, seemingly unconcerned.

William Hogarth died in London at age 66, on October 26, 1764, two hundred fifty-nine years ago today. “I have endeavored to treat my subjects as a dramatic writer,” Hogarth said. “My picture is my stage and men and women my players.”

Hogarth’s 1745 self-portrait “The Painter and his Pug,” is in the Tate Gallery in London. “The Polling” and the other three paintings in the Humours of an Election series, are in Sir John Soane’s Museum in London.

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