published according to act of Parliament, Feb. 1, 1751.
Call Number:
Kinnaird 53K(a) Box 215
Collection Title:
Plate 76. Queen Charlotte's collection of Hogarth works. Leaf 52. Album of William Hogarth prints.
Image Count:
1
Resource Type:
still image
Abstract:
In a London street, young boys inflict various forms of cruelty upon animals. In the centre, a boy (Tom Nero), identifiable by the badge on his shoulder as a pupil of St. Giles's Parish School, thrusts an arrow into a dog's anus; he ignores the offer of a large tart from a sympathetic young gentleman (said by Paulson to be a compliment to the young George III). To his left on the front of the balustrade, a boy draws a prophetic picture of Tom hanging from the gallows. Below Tom, another boy ties a bone to a dog's tail. In the lower left, a dog disembowels a cat. In the center foreground another boy kneels on the cobblestones, about to release a cock, as another boy prepares to a stick at it; the boy behind him holds a second cock. On the balustrade one boy holds a torch while his companion blinds a bird with a wire. Further to the left on the balustrade a group of boys laugh at the sight of two cats fight as they are hung by their tails from a gibbet-shaped lamp post. Above them a cat with a pair of wings tied to its back has been tossed out the attic window to see if it could fly
Description:
Title engraved above image., State, publisher, and series title from Paulson., First in a series of four: The four stages of cruelty., Quotation engraved below image: "While various scenes of sportive woe, the infant race employ, and tortur'd victims bleeding shew, the tyrant in the boy. Behold! A youth of gentler heart, to spare the creature's pain. O take, he cries - take all my tart, but tears and tart are vain. Learn from this fair example - you whom savage sports delight, how cruelty disgusts the view while pity charms the sight.", and Sheet trimmed to 382 x 313 mm.
