Some serious gaming

Cowley examines William Hogarth's subscription tickets as they relate to the works that they introduce - about 10 of them. It is assumed that there is a relationship between the illustrations on the tickets and the works which succeed them, which is characterized as a complicated game between the artist and his subscribers. It was inevitable that Hogarth would illustrate his subscription tickets. He was immersed in the zoological garden of neo-classicism with its personifications, putti, satyrs, gods and goddesses set against facades with their pillars, architraves, plinths, tomb-like features and solemn inscriptions.