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The Four Stages of Cruelty: Cruelty in Perfection

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The Four Stages of Cruelty: Cruelty in Perfection

1751
18th century
14 7/8 in. x 12 1/2 in. (37.78 cm x 31.75 cm)

William Hogarth, English, (1697–1764)

Object Type: Prints
Creation Place: Europe, England
Medium and Support: etching and engraving on paper
Credit Line: Carleton College Art Collection, purchased with funds from the Shedd Memorial Fund
Accession Number: 1997.189
Hogarth's moral series, spotlighting the social epidemic of wanton cruelty, features Tom Nero, a youth in the care of St. Giles-in-the-Fields parish. The artist's "Autobiographical Notes" reveal that the images "were done in the hopes of preventing in some degree that cruel treatment of poor Animals which makes the streets of London more disagreeable to the human mind." The entire series follows a child, his character formed by the unchecked cruelty of his peers, through adulthood -- also marked by wanton cruelty. Without intervention, childish cruelty to animals leads inevitably to violence, robbery and murder against humankind.

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