Willian Hogarth – The Cockpit

Willian Hogarth – The Cockpit

A scene at the Cockpit Royal, Birdcage Walk.

The central figure is the blind (his ragged neighbour is stealing a banknote) Lord Albemarle Bertie, second son of the 2^nd Duke of Ancaster, and a member of one of the most wealthy and powerful aristocratic clans in England.

The crowd is the usual mixture of gentlemen and riff raff, all frantically betting on the two fighting cocks in the centre of the ring.

The Royal Cockpit was first built by Charles II, but in 1810 Christ’s Hospital refused to renew the lease and a new building was constructed in Tufton Street, Westminster .

Paulson 206, only state.

William Hogarth

William Hogarth, (born November 10, 1697, London, England—died October 26, 1764, London), the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad, best known for his MORAL and satirical engravings and paintings—e.g., A Rake’s Progress (eight scenes,1733). His attempts to build a reputation as a history painter and portraitist, however, met with financial disappointment, and his aesthetic theories had more influence in Romantic literature than in painting.

See full William Hogarth catalogue here