jan 1, 1763 - Character Caricature

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Source Cited:
Rauser, Amelia. Caricature Unmasked: Irony, Authenticity, and Individualism in Eighteenth-Century English Prints. University of Delaware Press, 2008, pp. 50-55.

"In the London of the 1760s, there was no more popular figure than John Wilkes."

"Hogarth's caricature of Wilkes, though intended to defame him, in fact backfired, becoming instead the template for overwhelmingly positive representations of this icon of radicalism throughout the 1760s and beyond."

"To the eager buyers of his earlier social satires, Hogarth's signature had guaranteed a droll and well-observed representation of contemporary manners. But on the Wilkes caricature, Hogarth's signature indicated something quite different: that this was a political ploy for the personal benefit of the printmaker [he was appointed serjeant Painter to the King, who Wilkes criticized]. Hogarth was criticized as a lackey for the king's ministry, [...]"

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