To re-cap. James 2 had pushed his luck and Catholicism too far and so William ( of Orange, from Holland, married to J2's daughter Mary) was invited to invade and did so in 1688 in a bloodless coup, J2 scuttling off to France. William (3 of England, 2 of Scotland) and Mary (2) reigned jointly until Mary's death in 1894 and then on his own - didnt remarry- until his death in 1702 . A painting of William who spent a lot of his time keeping the Franch at bay on mainland Europe and in repelling French /J2 in Ireland, this one of his landing there prior to battle of Boyne in 1690.
There is another huge painting of the landing in Stormont, but not on public display. Apart from the Orange Order - who seem to have thankfully quietened down recently, another legacy of William is the Orange stripe on the Republic's flag together with the Green, with the white space between them the hope for recomciliation. I'll drink to that.
William's exploits againt the French (he the last but one King to lead his army overseas in war, last being G2) increased his popularity . And when Hogarth was born on 10th November 1697 he was named after the King, William. Lets have a look at a self portrait of Hogarth.
H's father a teacher who struggled to make ends meet and spent a few years in prison for debt when WH about ten. Left a mark on WH, always anxious about money. Prison conditions then, like much else, appalling except for the well to do. H married above himself, in secret, to the daughter of Sir James Thornhill the only British artist to have been knighted- Kneller also but he German born. Artists in England then mainly either portrait artists, the equivalent of photographers, or those mimicking Italian artists for a demand form the aristocracy etc as the must have items of the day.
Hogarth started as an engraver, then selling plates of his own work. He might be described as a 'genre' painter painting everyday London life and he is best known for his sequential cautionary tales, sort of satirical cartoons. Lets look at one The harlots progress as they would have been distributed
These stories are based on people the audience would have known albeit with the names changed. A country parson from Yorkshire has brought his daugther Mary ( real name Kate Hackabout, whose brother was later hanged at Tyburn) to meet friends but she is spotted by the old woman who pretends to offer her a job as a maid but wants to pass her on to a 'gentleman' for the obvious. The real old woman being parodied was a little later arrested for keeping a disorderly douse and sentenced to stand in the pillory.
The pillory was treated as sport, a diversion from bull baiting , cock fighting etc. It was down to the mob to choose what they threw. In this case the woman was unlucky, and died from her injuries.
The man in the doorway on the right is to take possession of Mary, based on a 'cad' called Colonel - an assumed title - Charteris.
Mary has moved on from the Colonel to a Jewish patron who sets her up in an apartment with chambermaid black servant and pet monkey. But she has become greedy and taken other clients and here one is escaping after the Jew has entered the room.The paintings at the back are laocal copies of the old masters, which H loathed.
Mary has been kicked out by the Jew some time ago and now is in squalid lodgings in Drury Lane from where she plies her trade with other 'ladies'. She is about to be arrested by Bow Street runners ( on right), no police force yet) for theft.
The coffin in the centre, her som playing in front of it. Mary died at age 23.
This the first of Hogarth's sequential moral tales,but he made very little money from it with the prints pirated. But soon after legislation passed to make this illegal.
Originally posted by foinavon: Alas alas it hasnt worked. I retire hurt for a good while.
Ah, don't be gone too long, Foin, and thanks for trying. We can see up to and including Hogarth and his Pug, but not the ones after. Would be the juicy ones, eh?
Never fear, Sweet Marie, I'll be back with some more Hogarth and O level history before you know it. In the meantime after a good meal and too much vin rouge I'm on my way down to the local stocks to pelt some poor hapless barsteward with rotten fruit. Harmless fun.
If you need a little diversion, I am currently reading the Govt textbook to enable me to sit a test to gain citizennship and a UK passport. Here's ten questions form it. If you can answer less than 4, there will be knock on your door sometime when you are least expecting it .
1. How many volts are delivered to you from your local electricity supply?
2. Within 5 years, when did women get the vote in the UK ?
3. For how long are fathers allowed paid paternity leave ?
4. What is the national speed limit for single carriage roads ?
5. How many MP's sit in the Commons ?
6. Where is the Scottish Parliament ?
7. When did conscription end in The UK ?
8. When is St George's day ?
9. What is the State retirement age for women born after 1955 ?
10. What is the population of Wales , to the nearest million.
Good luck
I now know what Russell Brand looks like, a bit Lawrence Llewwlyn- Bowenish ? Hope he as a more engaging personality. Shouldnt be difficult.
Originally posted by foinavon: If you need a little diversion, I am currently reading the Govt textbook to enable me to sit a test to gain citizennship and a UK passport. Here's ten questions form it. If you can answer less than 4, there will be knock on your door sometime when you are least expecting it .
1. How many volts are delivered to you from your local electricity supply?
2. Within 5 years, when did women get the vote in the UK ?
3. For how long are fathers allowed paid paternity leave ?
4. What is the national speed limit for single carriage roads ?
5. How many MP's sit in the Commons ?
6. Where is the Scottish Parliament ?
7. When did conscription end in The UK ?
8. When is St George's day ?
9. What is the State retirement age for women born after 1955 ?
10. What is the population of Wales , to the nearest million.
Good luck
I now know what Russell Brand looks like, a bit Lawrence Llewwlyn- Bowenish ? Hope he as a more engaging personality. Shouldnt be difficult.
Chuffin' 'ell! - as we used to say in Sheffield Is that for real? I wouldn't say I was totally brain-dead, but I don't know the answers to half of those stupid questions. The population of Wales? What has that got to do with anything? Maybe I'm not a good citizen. Wasn't there supposed to be a crunch question about whether you'd support England in the cricket? One of David Blunkett's gems? Or was it John Major, waxing lyrical about cricket, warm beer and the old village green? Ee, those were the days...
PS the cricket test was given by the lovable Norman Tebbitt whom Michael Foot once descrbed as a semi house trained polecat. Why do polecats get such a bad press ?
Originally posted by foinavon: PS the cricket test was given by the lovable Norman Tebbitt whom Michael Foot once descrbed as a semi house trained polecat. Why do polecats get such a bad press ?
Oh yes, that's right. The famous "something of the night" tag seems to apply better to Tebbit than it did to Michael Howard. I seem to remember Spitting Image doing him (Tebbit) as a mean-looking, ghoulish thug. Or have I got that wrong, too?
Oh, and I didn't mean to offend the Welsh! I wasn't doing an Ann Robinson. I just can't see the point of some of those questions in a "citizenship" test.
Yes you've got it Sweet Marie, Tebbitt was the ghoulish thug and Howard was the vampire. The vampire's wife was on Question Time last week masquerading as an author, and you could tell from her silly accent and the marks on her neck who she is married to
Originally posted by foinavon: Yes you've got it Sweet Marie, Tebbitt was the ghoulish thug and Howard was the vampire. The vampire's wife was on Question Time last week masquerading as an author, and you could tell from her silly accent and the marks on her neck who she is married to
Yeah, those ghouls get everywhere. Haven't they just bought *******?
Yes odd isnt it, that happened to me too. Surely UT isnt such a threat to mainstream TV that C4 wont allow their name to be mentioned. Anyway, maybe this will all change now they are owned by your
You're not having much luck with him I just found that link from Lampeter, with the Hogarth Archive - though there are no titles - but since it doesn't work anyway... Wonder why?
Yes Sweet Matie, looks like no go at Lampeter. Tryto sort out Hogarth speedily now.
So Hogarth, the first renowned British artist, born into the educated poor, father in prison for some time from debt. Married 'above' himself to the daughter of Sir James Thornhill ( later appointed Serjeant-Painter and history painter to George 11) to the king, and here one of his
These the days when our 'constitution' was sorting itself out. The monarch's power limited as part of the quid pro quo of inviting William to invade, the act of succession denying the possibility of a Catholic taking the throne and the act of Union with Scotland in 1707( methinks we will be hearing a lot about this from the SNP next year under the banner 300 years is enough) and the first prime minister ( Walpole) as George 1 ( after Anne) had little interest in Britain and could speak no English.
But democracy a long way off. While father in law well to do and MP for Melcombe Regis (?), Hogarth himself probably didnt have the vote - couldnt find out. Maybe torn two ways but whatever he was a serious artist who needed to make money from his art, by whatever means it took.
Most famously by his portrayal of the squalor of the poor and often the contrast with the well to do a social satire . Here a couple
The above is one of the etching in a Rake's progress, a series showing the journey of a young man inheriting money and ending in degradation. A moral tale. Hogarth used the 'series' approach a lot, mirroring his like of the theatre, a story unravelling. painted scenes from plays, e.g.
I wonder what he thought of these, for in some ways must have represented things he hated. The well to do not taking art seriously, using art- often poor imitations of foriegn art ( Hogarth resented the ascendnce of foriegn art- ent to France once but not a success), just to decorate the walls.
The Arts thread, a sleepy backwater undisturbed by POG's screaming adolescent fans.
So Hogarth our first renowned artist, and a serious artist, using his art to say something. Before him our artists overwhelmed by foreign imports and mainly confined to portrait painting. It appears that there was one female portait painter of some local renown in the 17th C, Mary Beale so a quck look at her
The camera was 'invented' ( leaving aside camera obscura etc) in the 19th century and soon after the phrase came along 'the camera doesnt lie' presumably in contrast to portrit painters. The truth was perhaps not that simple then - and certainly is much less true now with airbrushing etc- but you can see what they were getting at.
For example look at this painting of Princess Anne ( James 2's younger daughter) who took over the throne in 1702 after William ( 3, of Orange why was married to Anne's elder sister) died
One foxy lady, but is it the 'truth' ? Not really, generally Anne is described as plain/plump/uninteresting , perhaps swinging, or with tendencies to swing, both ways. She was the last of the Stuarts because she didnt leave any surviving children ( she had 12 who didnt survive beyond infancy and many miscarriages) and the next non-Catholic ( the act of Succession had then been passed barring catholics from the throne) was the elector of Hanover ( to become George 1) .
'George' actually visited Princess Anne with a view to a future marriage and wasnt impressed with what he saw. I think we can take it that Anne only bore a passing resemblance to this painting. Look bottom right, her dog is barking because he doesnt recognise her
Anne had a lady in waiting called Sarah Jennings who married John Churchill ( to become 1st Duke of Marlborough, Blenhiem palace built for him, Winnie's birthplace etc) and Sarah was to become very influential with Anne as she was with her husband. She was described as a beauty, but look at these two pictures of Anne and Sarah by or 'after' the same artist, Kneller
Difficult to tell between them or that one was deemed to be beautiful and the other far from. Incidentally I think Kneller was Dutch though came to live here , competition too hot in his native country probably.
Our first two artists of renown for their portraits were Gainsborough ( 1727- 1788) and Reynolds ( 1723-1792), so I'll look at these next and in the meantime here couple from each
Sweet Marie, I think I am going to like the Bob Dylan CD. Played it yesterday for first time on long motorway drive on beautiful sunny day and it helped the miles roll by , almost like driving in the States listening to country music. Even my son (25), who is definitely not into that type of music , quite liked it.
I expect that will be high sacrilege to you , Bob and country music, but you have to get your pleasure where you can
Over last year or so have acquired CDs by three old favourites. Leonard Cohen's was a write off as his voice has gone completely. I enjoy Paul Simon's , but probably a bit light and frothy for your taste .
Paul's voioe is in excellent nick which helps but what I find most impressive is how he still keeps his fundamental 'style' but has moved on with his material and music. Part of the moving on is to do with ageing, and of course finding spirituality tends to be an occupational hazard of ageing, but Paul handles it well.
Hope thats what Ill find with Bob too, moving on but still the same in some way. His voice struggles on some tracks but hopefully that wont get in the way too much. We shall see. Hope this finds you well.
Foiny, dear. I'm glad you - and your son - like Modern Times. My daughter, who's 25, has loved Bob since she was 12 years old, when she started listening to Biograph and Blonde On Blonde. She always tries to see him at least once or twice when he does a UK or European tour - most years, basically.
Bob Dylan and country music together isn't sacrilege! I love country music and Bob definitely does. I've probably gone on about this before, but try to get hold of Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons' Grievous Angel. There are some heart-stopping songs on it.
I'm a bit surprised you think Leonard's voice is a write off. I still love him and I really like Dear Heather. Try again and maybe it will grow on you! He's actually far more polished than Bob, who can be really "off" sometimes in the way he kind of throws songs away, mumbles or rushes through them. Well, live ones, anyway.
Paul Simon and Bob did a tour together a few years back, though I don't have any of his recent stuff.
Hope you're well, too. Hey, Foin - do I feel a pub quiz coming on?
Ok, maybe I should try that one again. And if you want to try Paul Simon, its called Surprise.
Odd that you mentioned Gram Parsons. Hadnt heard of him before but had just been reading an article in Sunday paper where he was mentioned. Here is a bit of it
"One has only to look at the cautionary tale of Gram Parsons ( name at birth; Cecil Ingram Connor III). He hung out with the Rolling stones, acquiring a lifestyle where he eventually OD-ed , after which his body was stolen by his hippy mates taken into th4e desert and set on fire."
I have led a very sheltered life !
You mentioed the dreaded pub quiz. I did one for October but it was so bad, plumbed new depths, that I didnt have the nerve to post it. Whats that you say, you want to have a go anyway ? Oh go on then, usual rules
Originally posted by foinavon: Sweet Marie, re Dear Heather, you having a larf ?
Odd that you mentioned Gram Parsons. Hadnt heard of him before but had just been reading an article in Sunday paper where he was mentioned. Here is a bit of it
"One has only to look at the cautionary tale of Gram Parsons ( name at birth; Cecil Ingram Connor III). He hung out with the Rolling stones, acquiring a lifestyle where he eventually OD-ed , after which his body was stolen by his hippy mates taken into th4e desert and set on fire."
I have led a very sheltered life !
Hey, my friend, it doesn't matter that he hung out with Keith Richards (Boris Karloff on a bad day), took too many bad drugs, died too young. Well, yes, it does. But Gram Parsons and Emmylou together had the voices of angels. She carried on the country tradition he envisioned. Please listen to Hearts On Fire and Love Hurts and Hickory Wind. Get back to me on that - and on Leonard, too.
Bedtime, I know. Number 1. The history books tell it, they tell it so well The cavalry charged and the Indians fell. The cavalry charged and the Indans died Oh, the country was young then With God on its side. With God On Our Side by Bobby Dylan
Is that for real? I wouldn't say I was totally brain-dead, but I don't know the answers to half of those stupid questions. The population of Wales? What has that got to do with anything? Maybe I'm not a good citizen. Wasn't there supposed to be a crunch question about whether you'd support England in the cricket? One of David Blunkett's gems? Or was it John Major, waxing lyrical about cricket, warm beer and the old village green? Ee, those were the days... 
I wasn't doing an Ann Robinson. 
