William Hogarth (1697–1764), English painter, engraver, and philosopher of aesthetics. Hogarth was the son of a Latin teacher and scholar whose financial failure led him to apprentice young William to a silver engraver. At age twenty-two, the young engraver set up in business for himself, producing shop cards, book illustrations, and original satires. He associated himself with the tradition of English satiric literature from Butler and Dryden to Swift, Pope, and Gay.

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