ARTWORKS

The Sleeping Congregation

William Hogarth (1697–1764)

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

The Sleeping Congregation

Image credit: Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

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Human frailty provided Hogarth with an endless source of humour. His incisive satires impart lessons through candid portrayals of people's shortcomings. In this scene, a congregation nods off during a church service as the clergyman reads from the gospel. The parish clerk in the centre ogles at the exposed bosom of the sleeping woman on the right – his devotion displaced from the Virgin to the young woman. When Hogarth republished this plate in 1762 he added extra details including warts on the reader's face and cracks in the wall.

Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

Exeter

Title

The Sleeping Congregation

Date

1763

Medium

engraving on paper

Measurements

H 25.6 x W 19.7 cm

Accession number

20/1932/16

Work type

Print

Inscription description

Invented Engraved & Published October 26th 1736 by Wm Hogarth Pursuatn to an Act of Parliament Price One Shilling. Retouched & Improved April 21 1762 by the Author / I am afraid of you test I have bestowed upon you labours in vain / Come unto me all of ye who labour I will give you peace

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Royal Albert Memorial Museum & Art Gallery

Queen Street, Exeter, Devon EX4 3RX England

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Artist or maker

William Hogarth

1697–1764

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