Hogarth’s 250th: 1764-2014

Hogarth died on 25 October 1764, aged 66. The Trust will be working with Hogarth’s House to commemorate the artist’s life with activities and exhibitions there during this anniversary year. A special commemoration, with music and readings, will take place at St Nicholas Church, Chiswick (where Hogarth and his relatives are buried) on Saturday, 25 October 2014, marking Hogarth’s last day in Chiswick, 250 years ago.

Hogarth was working at his Chiswick house on 24 October, but the next day was too ill to work. He was taken to his London home in Leicester Fields, weak but said to be ‘remarkably chearful’. After supper, he retired to bed and had a vomiting attack. Mary Lewis, his wife’s cousin who lived with the family, was called to care for him but he died in her arms in the early hours of 26 October.

He had been re-working his copper plate of The Bench, first published in 1758. The version printed and published after his death, included additional text confirming that the row of heads at the upper edge was Hogarth’s last work.

Hogarth had made his will on 15 August 1764. One of his witnesses was Richard Loveday, a surgeon who lived near him in Chiswick at that time; the families were close and Jane Hogarth was godmother to one of Loveday’s daughters. But Hogarth had been ill several times in the previous few years and it is possible that Loveday was attending to his health as well as acting as a close friend.

The rather grand memorial tomb in Chiswick Churchyard carries verses by David Garrick and Samuel John-
son; it is also the burial place of Hogarth’s sister Anne, his wife Jane and her mother Dame Judith Thornhill.

The stonework was beautifully conserved a few years ago, though the carved decoration has long since lost its colours.

The Trust will announce details of the year’s events as soon as they are available.