The Company of Undertakers

The Company of Undertakers

Social satire, Medicine in art

In The Company of Undertakers, Hogarth parodies the theme of medicine as a “noble” profession by creating a phony coat of arms emblazoned with the heads of physicians, all holding to their noses an attribute of their profession, a cane filled at the end with a medicinal sachet to cleanse foul vapors in the air. Using the official parlance of British heraldry, the caption describes the shield as “Beareth sable, an Urinal proper, between 12 Quack-Heads of the second and 12 Cane Heads Or, Consultant.” The title of the print is a deliberate misnomer, reinforced by the crossbones near the bottom and the motto, “Et plurima mortis imago,” or “and most an image of death.”

William Hogarth (1697-1764)

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Hogarth, London

1736

Debra Cashion, in collaboration with Elisabeth Barrett, '15

Etching, engraving; original dimensions, 258 x 178 mm

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Still image

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