A Midnight Modern Conversation

Description

One of Hogarth’s most sought-after and most frequently copied compositions, A Midnight Modern Conversation features a raucous, smoke-filled scene in which drunken participants stumble, fall asleep, and lose their wigs. This impression of the print incorporates painterly nuances in an application of both red and black ink, a color choice resulting in a mock history painting.

A Midnight Modern Conversation

William Hogarth

March 1732/33

Accession Number

190874

Medium

Etching and engraving selectively printed in black and red on ivory laid paper

Dimensions

Image: 32.9 × 45.5 cm (13 × 17 15/16 in.); Plate: 34.5 × 47 cm (13 5/8 × 18 9/16 in.); Sheet: 37.2 × 49.7 cm (14 11/16 × 19 5/8 in.)

Classification

prints and drawing

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

The Amanda S. Johnson and Marion J. Livingston Endowment Fund