A crowd of spectators wait as Tom Idle is driven in a cart with his coffin to his place of execution and the gallows. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1747.

  • Hogarth, William, 1697-1764.
Date:
30 September 1747
Reference:
43611i
Part of:
Industry and idleness
  • Pictures
  • Online

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view A crowd of spectators wait as Tom Idle is driven in a cart with his coffin to his place of execution and the gallows. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1747.

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Credit

A crowd of spectators wait as Tom Idle is driven in a cart with his coffin to his place of execution and the gallows. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1747. Wellcome Collection. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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About this work

Description

The scene is Tyburn, a traditional site of executions. Comforting Idle, who probably reads from the Bible, is a Methodist preacher. The cart is followed by horsemen with halberds. The crowd is serviced by an assortment of itinerant sales people. Also among the crowd is a man with crutches. Another man is about to toss a dog by the tail

Publication/Creation

[London] : [publisher not identified], 30 September 1747.

Physical description

1 print : engraving, with etching ; image 22.3 x 37.6 cm.

Series

Contributors

Lettering

The idle 'prentice executed at Tyburn. plate 11. design'd & engrav'd by W. Hogarth. Proverbs chap: I. ver: 27,28. When fear cometh as desolation, and their destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress cometh upon them then they shall call upon God, but he will not answer. Lettering continues with quotation from Proverbs I, 27-28, "when fear cometh as desolation ... but he will not answer." A woman offers for sale a broadside inscribed "The last dying speech & confession of Tho. Idle"

References note

R. Paulson, Hogarth's graphic works, London 1989, 3rd edition, related to 178
British Museum Catalogue of political and personal satires, London 1877, vol. 3, no. 2989

Reference

Wellcome Collection 43611i

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