William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764
Burning the Rumps at Temple Bar, plate eleven from Hudibras
INV-1846
William Hogarth
English, 1697-1764February 1725/26
Burning the Rumps at Temple Bar, plate eleven from Hudibras
William Hogarth English, 1697-1764 →engravingprints and drawing
Date
February 1725/26
Medium
Engraving in black on cream laid paper edge mounted on cream wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 24.5 × 49.5 cm (9 11/16 × 19 1/2 in.); Plate: 27.2 × 50.5 cm (10 3/4 × 19 15/16 in.); Primary support: 27.4 × 50.9 cm (10 13/16 × 20 1/16 in.); Secondary support: 36 × 56.8 cm (14 3/16 × 22 3/8 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Sara R. Shorey Endowment; purchased with funds provided by Phyllis Neiman and the Woman's Board in honor of Phyllis Neiman
William Hogarth illustrated the story of a sad-sack adventurer named Hudibras in twelve engravings. His source was Samuel Butler’s satirical, mock-heroic poem written in the vein of Cervantes and Rabelais. Ridiculing the puritan party’s attempts to overthrow the British monarchy during the Great Civil War of 1640, Butler’s poem exposes the hypocrisy and pretensions of the Presbyterians, Independents, and Zealots who hoped to establish themselves as leaders.
Here, Hudibras appears in this large crowd scene as a masked dummy about to burnt. A row of London butcher shops is the setting for a protest against the “Rump Parliament,” a political body that had replaced much of the previous government during the English Civil War. Protester at this historical event in 1659 did in fact burn beef rumps in the streets as well as political effigies.
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