William Hogarth He was a British painter who cultivated several genres of painting:portraits, engravings, illustrations... But in this post we are going to stay with a series of satirical engravings called «The four stages of cruelty «.
In this series of four engravings he represents the different stages in the life of Tom Nero (Fiction character). It is a criticism of cruelty, gratuitous and routine, which extends through the London of the eighteenth century. It was made on cheap paper and was destined for the lower classes.
1st Stage :Nero and his friends «play » with animals.
2nd Stage: After bursting the horse, due to being overweight, which he pulls from the cart (his first job for him) he hits it savagely.
3rd Stage (Cruelty in Perfection) :Move on to the robbery and murder of a pregnant woman.
4th Stage (Reward of Cruelty) :He is sentenced to death (hanging) and then his body is dissected in public (dogs eat his entrails)
It is worth clicking on each of the engravings (increasing the size) and being able to discover all the details that at first glance can escape. The comment of each one of the engravings would deserve an entire post.
Photos:wikipedia
