Artworks, The Distressed Poet, From the Original Picture by Hogarth, c1741

Date: c1741

Artist: William Hogarth

Engraver: G. Presbury

Paper Size: 205 x 270mm

Print Size: 120 x 170mm

Condition: Good

Technique: Steel Engraving

Price: $60

 Provenance:

The distressed poet is an oil painting produced in c1736 by British artist William Hogarth. Reproduced as an etching and engraving, it was published in 1741 from a third-state plate produced in 1740. The scene was probably inspired by Alexander Pope's satirical poem the dunciad. It depicts a scene in a small, dingy attic room where a poet sits at his desk scratching his head staring at the papers on the desk before him, evidently looking for inspiration to complete the poem he is writing. Near him sits his wife darning clothes, surprised by the entrance of a milkmaid, who impatiently demands payment of debts.