The analysis of beauty

Born 300 years ago in Smithfield, London, William Hogarth established himself as a central figure in 18th-century English culture through his paintings, engravings, and outspoken art criticism.

In this edition of Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty" - a work combining theory with practical advice on painting - Ronald Paulson includes the complete text of the original work; an introduction that places the "Analysis" in the tradition of aesthetic treatises and Hogarth's own "moral" works; extensive annotation of the text and accompanying illustrations; and manuscript passages that Hogarth omitted from the final printed version.

In the development of English aesthetics, the "Analysis of Beauty" takes a position of significance.

Hogarth's stature in his own time suggests the importance of his attempt to systematise and theorize his own artistic practice.

What he proposes is an aesthetics of the middle range, subordinating both the beautiful and the sublime to the everyday world of human choice and contingency - essentially the world of Hogarth's own "modern moral subjects".