[Illustration: FIG. 71.--THE MARRIAGE CONTRACT. _No. 1 of The Marriage à la Mode. By Hogarth. In the National Gallery._]
It was in this sort of picture that Hogarth made himself great, though he supported himself for several years by portrait-painting, in which art he holds a reputable place. Most of his important pictures are in public galleries.
Hogarth was a fine engraver, and left many plates after his own works, which are far better and more spirited than another artist could have made them. The pictures of Hogarth have good qualities aside from their peculiar features. He made his interiors spacious, and the furniture and all the details were well arranged; his costumes were exact, as was also the expression of his faces; his painting was good, and his color excellent. In 1753 he published a book called the "Analysis of Beauty."
Ever after his first success his career was a prosperous one. He rode in his carriage, and was the associate and friend of men in good positions. Hogarth was buried in Chiswick Churchyard, and on his tombstone are these lines, written by David Garrick:
"Farewell, great painter of mankind! Who reach'd the noblest point of Art, Whose pictur'd morals charm the mind, And through the eye, correct the heart. If Genius fire thee, reader, stay; If Nature touch thee, drop a tear; If neither move thee, turn away, For Hogarth's honour'd dust lies here."
The next important English painter was RICHARD WILSON (1713-1782), and he was important not so much for what he painted as for the fact that he was one of the earliest landscape-painters among English artists. He never attained wealth or great reputation, although after his return from studying in Italy he was made a member of the Royal Academy.
We come now to Sir JOSHUA REYNOLDS (1723-1792), born at Plympton, in Devonshire. His father was a clergyman and the master of the grammar school at Plympton. Joshua was destined for the medical profession by his parents; but his love of drawing was so marked that, as the opportunity offered for him to go to London and study under Hudson, his father allowed him to do so. After various changes, in 1749 he was able to go to Rome, and remained in Italy three years (Fig. 70).