William Hogarth

One of four drawings for the engraved series "Four Stages of Cruelty".
Nero's predilection for violence has now led him to a human victim. In the early hours of the morning, outside a moonlit churchyard, a group of farmers apprehend the wigless Nero for the slaughter of his pregnant lover, who lies with her throat, wrist, and finger slit. A trail of purloined jewelry and household effects hints that the young servant woman intended to run away with Nero after robbing her mistress. Nero's murderous act will lead him to the gallows, as predicted in the first scene of the series. The carefully drawn sheet has been squared in graphite to transfer the design to another surface. Pinpricks along the outer edges of the sheet must have served as a guide for the lines.
The highly detailed print of this scene, enriched with the insertion of text, reveals that Nero's murdered lover was carrying the Anglican Book of Common Prayer and John Reynolds's 1621 compilation God's Revenge Against Murder, a collection of stories about the power of divine justice over crime. Hogarth also added legible text to the letter she clutches: Dear Tommy / Do not fail to / meet me in the Church yard as / you ... / Ann Gill. -- Exhibition Label, from "Hogarth: Cruelty and Humor"
See also the records for the rest of the drawings in this series of four scenes (III,32b; III, 32c; III, 32d; III, 32e).