The Sleeping Congregation

William Hogarth

April 21, 1762 · Etching and engraving; fourth state of four · Drawings and Prints

A congregation dozes during a church service as the clergyman reads from the gospel and his clerk, sitting below the pulpit, eyes the exposed bosom of a young woman. The preacher was intended by Hogarth to satirize his contemporary John Theophilus Desaguliers. Originally published in October 1736, Hogarth here republished the print in 1762, adding elements such as two warts on the reader's face and cracks in the wall on which the angel is painted.

Artist

William Hogarth

Date

April 21, 1762

Medium

Etching and engraving; fourth state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Sarah Lazarus, 1891