Hogarth's Repainting to Halt Productions of Fakes
November 1 2021
Picture: The Sunday Times
Posted by Adam Busiakiewicz:
The Sunday Times published a story yesterday on new research which shows how William Hogarth often repainted his famous pictures in order to halt the production of unofficial knock-off prints.
According to the article:
X-rays and infrared scans of Hogarth’s best-known works, A Rake’s Progress, show he changed some of the eight paintings in the series after completion, when knock-off prints started appearing before he had published his own.
After creating his originals, Hogarth would have smaller engravings made to be printed and sold. Plagiarism was rife, however, and pirate copies of his previous work, A Harlot’s Progress, had appeared a little over a week after prints had been delivered to his subscribers.
This new research will appear in the forthcoming Tate exhibition Hogarth and Europe which opens on 3rd November 2021.
