 |
| Title |
The Laughing Audience, Bill of Sale |
| Artist |
William Hogarth |
| Date |
1733 |
| Medium |
Etching |
| Location |
The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College |
The Laughing Audience is divided into three sections which
depict three classes of people. The fops in the top register
are portrayed as both more refined and more distant from the
dramatic experience than the working class audience in the
pit, who seem to be enjoying the performance in an unselfconscious
manner. The orange girls, the only 'industrious' characters
portrayed in the print, are drawn with the serpentine "Line
of Beauty." Round, pleasant faces with long foreheads
and delicate noses such as theirs will later be used by Lavater
as examples of simplicity, innocence, and moral beauty. The
print was used as a subscription ticket for Southwark Fair
(1733) and A Rake's Progress (1735). It is signed by Hogarth
himself.
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