William Hogarth: The Architect of the Line of Beauty and English Satire

William Hogarth (1697–1764) was an English painter and engraver, best known for the satirical picture series A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, and Marriage A-la-Mode. He turned London street life into a theatre of vice and folly, and his prints sold widely because anyone could read the story in them. He also helped to win legal protection for artists' work, and the Engravers' Copyright Act of 1735 is often called Hogarth's Act.

In 1753 he published The Analysis of Beauty, a short treatise that tried to explain why some forms please the eye. Hogarth argued that beauty comes from a small set of principles: fitness, variety, uniformity, simplicity, intricacy, and quantity, all governed by the “waving” and “serpentine” lines. His preference for looking over rules links him with the practical vision of Rembrandt, and his satire anticipates the sharper social criticism of Francisco de Goya.

This collection contains 16 sentences from the public-domain text on Project Gutenberg, arranged by theme. They are quoted exactly as printed, including eighteenth-century spellings such as “employ'd” and “govern'd”. Many of Hogarth's longest sentences exceed what can be quoted cleanly, so this is a selection of the shortest and clearest. Where a sentence continues after a semicolon, only the complete first clause is given.

16 Quotes from William Hogarth

Fitness and Proportion

“The bulks and proportions of objects are govern'd by fitness and propriety.”

The first of Hogarth's principles. A thing looks right when its size and shape suit its purpose. A chair that cannot hold a person or a bridge that looks too weak offends the eye, and Hogarth thought that this sense of fitness underlies all beauty.

“When a vessel sails well, the sailors always call her a beauty; the two ideas have such a connexion!”

A memorable example from the sea. Sailors judge a ship by how well it moves, and they call it beautiful when it sails well. The exclamation shows Hogarth's delight in a case where use and beauty meet. Many designers today still judge good form by how well a thing performs its task.

“Thus you see regularity, uniformity, or symmetry, please only as they serve to give the idea of fitness.”

Hogarth takes a position against the fashion for strict symmetry. Balanced forms please us, he says, only when they suggest that something is fit for its purpose. Symmetry is not beautiful in itself, and it can be dull when it has no reason.

“It is a constant rule in composition in painting to avoid regularity.”

A practical instruction. A picture in which everything is equal and evenly spaced looks stiff and lifeless. Painters, Hogarth says, instinctively vary their arrangements, and he treats this as a rule of the craft. The rule is easy to test by looking at any well-composed picture.

“Thus the profile of most objects, as well as faces, are rather more pleasing than their full fronts.”

A sharp observation about perception. Seen from the side, an object shows variety of line, while a full front is flat and symmetrical. Hogarth uses faces as his example, and the point explains why portraits so often show the sitter at an angle.

“If uniform objects were agreeable, why is there such care taken to contrast, and vary all the limbs of a statue?”

A question that makes the point itself. Sculptors never pose a figure with arms and legs identical on both sides. If uniformity were beautiful, he implies, they would. The example comes from his study of how artists actually work. His argument rests on what artists do, not on what theorists claim.

Variety, Simplicity, and Intricacy

“Observe, that a gradual lessening is a kind of varying that gives beauty.”

Gradual change is a kind of variety. A column that narrows slowly, or a line that thins toward its end, pleases us. Hogarth observes the fact first and explains it second, which gives the Analysis its fresh, practical character. The observation is simple but opens a whole theory of grace.

“Simplicity, without variety, is wholly insipid, and at best does only not displease.”

Hogarth balances his principles against each other. Plain simplicity may avoid offence, but it creates no pleasure. Beauty needs variety, and variety needs enough order to be understood. The sentence is a good example of the checks and balances in his theory.

“The active mind is ever bent to be employ'd.”

The mind likes to work. This is Hogarth's explanation of why intricacy pleases us, since a form with a winding path invites the eye to follow it. It is an early attempt to explain visual pleasure through the activity of the viewer.

“Pursuing is the business of our lives; and even abstracted from any other view, gives pleasure.”

A general truth about human nature. We are always chasing something, and the chase itself is enjoyable. Hogarth links this to art, arguing that a winding line leads the eye on a pleasant hunt. He treats curiosity as a basic part of how we look at the world.

“In a word, it is quantity which adds greatness to grace.”

From his chapter on quantity. A graceful form becomes grand when it is large or abundant. Hogarth separates grace from greatness and says that scale turns the first into the second. The sentence is brief but gives the chapter its conclusion.

“When improper, or incompatible excesses meet, they always excite laughter.”

A remark that belongs to his satirical side. Excess that clashes with its setting is comic, and Hogarth, the great comic artist, knew how to use it. The sentence shows how closely Hogarth linked beauty and comedy. It is a small clue to why his prints are so funny.

Lines, Curves, and the Living Body

“It is to be observed, that straight lines vary only in length, and therefore are least ornamental.”

He starts from a simple geometric point. A straight line can be longer or shorter but cannot change in any other way, and so it has little variety. Curved lines can bend in many ways and are therefore richer. This is the foundation of the line of beauty.

“There is scarce a room in any house whatever, where one does not see the waving-line employ'd in some way or other.”

An ordinary observation with a large claim behind it. Look around a room, he says, and you will find the waving line in the shapes of furniture and fittings. It is a sign that people instinctively prefer it. The observation is easy to check by looking around any room.

“There is scarce a straight bone in the whole body.”

Hogarth turns to anatomy to support his argument. The human skeleton is full of curves, and so are the muscles. If nature builds the body from waving lines, he reasons, it should be no surprise that we find those lines beautiful.

“Anatomists are so satisfied of this, that they take a pleasure in distinguishing their several beauties.”

The sentence continues the argument from anatomy. Those who study the body in detail, he says, admire the beauty of its parts. The remark lends scientific weight to his theory and shows that he treated looking carefully as a form of knowledge.

Conclusion

Hogarth's Analysis is a short book with a big ambition: to explain beauty through observation. Its principles of fitness, variety, intricacy, and the waving line are simple, and they grow from careful looking at ships, furniture, faces, and bones. Not all of them have survived, but the habit of explaining beauty by watching how people see has proved lasting.

Hogarth died in 1764. His engravings still appear in schools and galleries as sharp portraits of the age, and the S-curve he called the line of beauty still appears in design handbooks. The Analysis is an unusual document, in which a working artist, writing for ordinary readers, tries to turn practice into a clear account.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who was William Hogarth?

William Hogarth (1697–1764) was an English painter and engraver, famous for satirical series such as A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode.

What is the Analysis of Beauty?

It is a treatise that Hogarth published in 1753, in which he argues that beauty comes from principles such as fitness, variety, and intricacy, and especially from the waving and serpentine lines.

What is the line of beauty?

Hogarth called the serpentine, S-shaped curve the line of beauty. He argued that it leads the eye in a pleasing, varied path, and he used it to explain the grace of natural and artistic forms.

Which text is quoted here?

The quotations come from The Analysis of Beauty in the public-domain edition on Project Gutenberg. Spelling and punctuation follow that text.

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Do you find curves more beautiful than straight lines? Share your view in the comments below!