The Reward of Cruelty
Dublin Core
Title
The Reward of Cruelty
Subject
Social satire, Medicine in art
Description
In the engraving entitled The Reward of Cruelty, the English artist William Hogarth (1697-1764), demonstrates the popular view of 18th century- medicine as a ghoulish occupation involving skeletons, cauldrons of boiling bones, and buckets of entrails thrown to the dogs. In Hogarth’s representation of an anatomy lecture, barber-surgeons seem to enjoy the work of carving up the body while pompously mortar-boarded physicians observe distractedly. Overhead the coat of arms of the King proclaims the imprimatur of the crown, also alluded to by the noose of the gallows that remains around the neck of the grimacing corpse of Tom Nero, who for his capital crimes suffers a fate considered even worse than death.
Creator
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
Source
from the series "The Four Stages of Cruelty"
Publisher
Hogarth, London
Date
1751
Contributor
Debra Cashion, in collaboration with Elisabeth Barrett, '15
Rights
Relation
Format
Engraving
Language
[no text]
Type
Still image
Identifier
[no text]
Coverage
[no text]
Files
Collection
Citation
William Hogarth (1697-1764), “The Reward of Cruelty,” The Anatomist: Early Modern Medical Satire, accessed April 24, 2024, https://anatomist.omeka.net/items/show/6.