March 2010
To coincide with the forthcoming General Election, Pallant House Gallery in Chichester, West Sussex presents a display of the bawdy print series ‘An Election’ (1755-58) and the painting ‘A Scene from ‘The Beggar’s Opera’ Act III’ ‘(1728-9) by the father of satire, William Hogarth (1697-1764).
Set in the murky political time of Britain's first Prime Minister Sir Robert Walpole, the 250-year-old pictures reveal some surprisingly contemporary parallels.
The ‘Election' series was born out of Hogarth's concern for the way greed and self-serving political corruption were endangering national interests. Set in the fictional constituency of Guzzledown, the series was based on real events in Oxfordshire during the 1754 General Election and targets the Whig's leader, the Duke of Newcastle, for his use of bribes to maintain power.