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, English, 1697-1764
Title
The Reward of Cruelty
DatePublished: 1st February 1751
MediumLine and etching
Dimensions
Plate: 37.9 x 32 cm
Sheet: 39.8 x 33.8 cm
Credit LinePresented, Mrs E. Bishop, 1942
Object numberNGI.11514
DescriptionAs master of the popular print, Hogarth's fame was firmly based on his prints of moral subjects. He wrote: I have endeavoured to treat my subjects as a dramatic writer; my picture is my stage, and men and women my players, who by means of certain actions and gestures, are to exhibit a 'dumb show'. Hogarth explained his horror of cruelty, 'the very describing of which gives pain.' Fine engraving was not essential as his aim was to make his prints intelligible to all. Here, in the last print of the series of four, the body of Tom Nero, the anti-hero, has been turned over to eager surgeons for dissection.