Masquerades and Operas

In this print Hogarth has satirized the current state of British theater. The rage for Italian theater and pantomime had temporarily displaced the works of Shakespeare, Congreve and Dryden among others. Hogarth shows Londoners rushing to a display of conjurers, pantomimes, midnight masquerades and Italian Opera. It is interesting to note that Lord Burlington's newly erected house in the Palladian style stands as the representation of false taste. The site is now the chief entrance to the Royal Academy of Arts. This is a first state of the print and the only version of this subject executed by the artist.