English painter of the eighteenth century

By William Hogarth (London 1697 London - 1764)

A Modern Midnight Conversation

About 1740, England

Oil painting on canvas

62 x 95 cm.

In a beautiful antique golden frame 80 x 110 cm.

The proposed painting, whose original title is 'A Modern Midnight Conversation' (a modern midnight conversation) draws on a painting made by the English painter William Hogarth in 1730-31, which portrays a group of gentlemen of the time gathered around the table in a club, represented in the throes of a general intoxication.

In this state it is not possible to have any kind of conversation, hence the irony of the title, if not disconnected soliloquies, rash actions (the standing character helps his friend who has fallen from a chair by spilling the contents of a bottle on his head), sleep deep, drunk pensive and sad (like that of the smoker with a turban), alcohol dementia like that of the lawyer at the center of the table, joyful and repeated toasts as in the case of the character celebrating the fat priest who stirs the punch, or finally a total numbness with candles that set fire to the clothes of a politician (as indicated by the newspaper that comes out of the pocket of the last person sitting on the right).

With this pictorial manifesto, Hogarth fits into a cultural context characterized by the affirmation of the bourgeoisie and the social values ​​of respectability connected to it, where artists used to insert in their paintings a concrete and easily identifiable morality, combined with the taste of the story of the real and everyday aspects.

In Hogarth's 'modern' stories, tragic but ironic at the same time, the attack is not aimed at individual characters as such but becomes tools for the representation of the vices of the time.

It is a satire on the various effects of the much-loved drink in clubs, satirical paintings on contemporary costumes, featuring the famous St. John's café, Temple Bar, London, and portraying the last pains of a rowdy evening of drinking, debating and debauchery.

It is one of Hogarth's most famous and admired works that contributed to the increase of his fame, as well as a superb example of the influence of Dutch genre painting on the artist, so much so that it was, throughout the course of the eighteenth century, replicated in numerous copies throughout Europe.

Similar paintings:

- English Royal Collection, Hillsborough Castle

- United States, Connecticut Yale Center for British Art

- England, National Trust, Petworth House

Going into the details of the represented prersonalities, we see in the center the famous English boxer James Figg, fallen from his chair, who broke a bottle carried in his left hand, while another rather prostrate gentleman, in a red jacket, pours the contents of a bottle on him. , and identified as Ranby, Hogarth's doctor friend. On the far right, a politician (Councilor Kettleby) attempts to light his pipe with a candlestick, mistakenly setting fire to his coat sleeve. The man next to him clings to his face, either in the throes of a headache or in preparation to fall violently to the ground. In the center of the scene, four men gather around the punch. The only one lazily dribbling his fist is probably the parish priest, Cornelius Ford, Dr. Johnson's cousin. On the far left, another friend of Hogarth's, the binder Chandler, sits wistfully, wearing a white turban and smoking a long pipe, while another, leaning back in his chair, has fallen asleep with his mouth open.

The painting is in good condition, with a beautiful gilded wooden frame.

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