imageofempire:

An Election: Canvassing for Votes
William Hogarth (1697-1764)
Oil on canvas, 1754-55
101.5 x 127 cm
Sir John Soane’s Museum, London

The second scene takes place in a village street in front of three Inns, the Royal Oak, the Crown and the Portobello. The landlady of the Royal Oak is counting her ‘treat’ money. Behind her the figurehead of a lion is about to consume the French fleur-de-lys, a reference to the continuing war between Britain and France.

Images of bribery abound, even on the new Inn sign in the foreground where a shower of gold flows from the Treasury into the wheelbarrow of ‘PUNCH’ the candidate for ‘GUZZLEDOWN’. Here Hogarth is suggesting that the Whigs, the party of power, have been using taxpayer’s money to fund election treats and other bribes. A close look at the sign reveals a coachman in the distance having his head knocked off as he drives under the arch of the Horse Guards in Whitehall.

In the middle of the picture an innkeeper is being solicited by representatives from the two parties and is happily taking bribes from both.

To the right of the picture two drinkers discuss the decline of Britain’s naval fortunes; the man with the pipe is a blind cobbler who obviously cannot see his companion’s complicated demonstration. In the distance it appears that a Whig treat is being attacked by an angry mob of taxpayers.

thefingerfucker:

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klappersacks:

(via Jim Barker)

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