Hogarth (Attributed to), William (1697 – 1764) – Bust of Hesiod.

A drawing related to Hogarth's engraved frontispiece to Thomas Cooke's 'The Works of Hesiod' (1728). In the 1960s another drawing came to light for which a claim was made that it was the untraced drawing of Hesiod by Hogarth (Christie's, 28/4/1964, lot 81; Christie's, 17/6/1975, lot 61; Christie's, 15/11/1983, lot 121). But that sheet, of far inferior quality, is clearly a copy drawing and is so close to Ireland's illustration of this subject in his 'Graphic Illustrations of Hogarth' (1794) that it more likely relates to that project. The present drawing is on paper dateable to the time of Hogarth's engraving and long before Ireland's project. It is in reverse to Hogarth's engraving and has the immediacy of an original design. It retains the tone and sensitivity present in the finished engraving, which is lost in both Ireland's later etching and the drawing that came to light in the 1960s. This drawing can be compared stylistically to other Hogarth drawings such as the study of the 'Tomb of Lord Shorland' in the British Museum. The sculpture is a 2nd Century Roman copy of a Greek original that was in the Pembroke Collection at Wilton. Please contact the gallery for further information regarding this drawing.