William Hogarth. The shrimp girl. Repro

Mõõdud: 300 x 218 mm

Seisukord: väga heas korras repro

Bestell-Nr 511 388 5

Asukoht: London, National Gallery

Väljaandja: VEB E. A. Seemann Verlag, Leipzig, Kbl. 1047

Trükitud Saksa DV-s, Grafische Werke, Zwickau

William Hogarth. The shrimp girl.

Hogarth certainly painted this sketch from life, and although he may never have known the girl’s name, this is definitely a portrait of an individual. For at least a century before and after Hogarth painted The Shrimp Girl, most of the travelling sellers of shellfish in London were women, usually the daughters or wives of fishmongers in Billingsgate Fish Market.

Hogarth sketched a half-pint measure in the basket balanced on his shrimp girl’s head. A few darker shells suggest that she also sells mussels, and perhaps cockles, as well as shrimps. She wears a dark sou'wester, a hat traditionally worn by fisherman, and a cloak, probably of oilskin, but nothing can dim the sense of life and character she radiates.

The Shrimp Girl appears unique among Hogarth’s single-figure oil sketches in being painted from life, spontaneously and for its own sake. The speed with which it was painted adds to its sense of truth and liveliness.