William Hogarth
English, 1697–1764
Paul Before Felix
INV-1860
William Hogarth
English, 1697–1764c. 1751
Paul Before Felix
William Hogarth English, 1697–1764 →prints and drawingchalk
Date
c. 1751
Medium
Various red chalks on cream laid paper
Dimensions
39.5 × 51.5 cm (15 9/16 × 20 5/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection in memory of Lt. Col. Charles Albert Appel
Around 1747 William Hogarth completed a series of history paintings that were much more serious in tone than the satirical works on which he had built his fame. This drawing and Moses Brought to Pharaoh’s Daughter (2013.951) were both likely made after those paintings as studies for engravings. Paul before Felix, showing the apostle’s self-defense, was commissioned for the chapel of Lincoln’s Inn, where lawyers were admitted to the bar. Moses was similarly appropriate for its location, the London Foundling’s Hospital, as it shows the prophet’s mother reluctantly giving him up for adoption.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
