Sidrophel Examining the Kite Through His Telescope (Seventeen Small Illustrations for Samuel Butler's Hudibras, no. 10)
Medium
Etching and engraving
Dimensions
sheet: 4 3/4 x 2 5/8 in. (12 x 6.7 cm) (trimmed)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.35(108)
Rights
Public Domain
Tags
Art Historical Context
William Hogarth's *Sidrophel Examining the Through His Telescope* is of seventeen small etchings and engravings created between 1721 and 1726 to illustrate Samuel Butler's satirical epic poem *Hudibras* (1663–78). This diminutive print (just 4 3/4 x 2 5/8 inches) captures a comical moment from the poem, where the fraudulent astrologer Sidrophel through his telescope at a kite—a jab at pseudo-science and the era's fascination with astronomy and experimentation. Hogarth, an early master of satirical printmaking, uses sharp lines and intricate details to mock the pretensions of 17th-century charl...
About the Artist
William Hogarth|Samuel Butler · 1697–1764
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was an English painter, printmaker, and pictorial satirist who became the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad. Born into poverty in London, the son of a failed schoolmaster who was imprisoned for debt, Hogarth's early experiences with the harsh realities of 18th-century urban life profoundly shaped his artistic vision. After apprenticing with si...