William Hogarth & Charles Grignion

William Hogarth & Charles Grignion - Canvassing for Votes (Four Prints of an Election, Plate 2): Hogarth's second scene takes political corruption out of doors. The inn to the right is The Royal Oak, which was the headquarters of the Tory party. The inn has been embellished with signs satirizing their opponents, the most notable bearing the title of, "Punch Candidate for Guzzeldown", which shows a Whig candidate as Punch buying votes from his wheelbarrow of coins. Below the sign stands the local Tory candidate. Much like 'Punch', he is buying trinkets from the peddlers to further his amorous adventures with the admiring pair of girls on the balcony. At the Inn door a soldier spies on another attractive girl who is busy counting her 'take'. At the bay window two men stuff themselves on ridiculously large portions of food.

The centre foreground is dominated by a closely knit trio of men. The man in the middle is covertly accepting bribes from both men at the same time. At the table to the left two elderly men debate the Battle of Portobello. The pensive, pipe-smoking man appears to have won his wager and takes in his money.

In the background a Tory mob is attacking the Whig headquarters. Extreme violence has already commenced.

Four Prints of an Election consists of four related engravings published by William Hogarth from February, 1755 to February, 1758. It represents Hogarth's last great set of engravings and is loosely based upon the riotous Oxfordshire election of 1754, where the Whig candidate, the Duke of Marlborough, challenged the incumbent Tories. As in most of Hogarth's works of art, however, the series is not concerned with a particular event but aims to uncover political and aristocratic methods to bribe, coerce and generally exploit the populace. Thus this eighteenth century election shares many similar chords with our contemporary politicians and voters.

William Hogarth engraved plate 1 by himself and assisted other engravers in plates 3 and 4. For mainly background work, however, he commissioned the technical expertise of other engravers working in London to complete the series. They are, Charles Grignion, the Elder (born, 1717 - died, 1810), (plate 2), Francois Morellon de la Cave 'Le Cave' (1706-1766;fl), (plate 3), and Francois Antoine Aveline 'F. Aviline' (Paris, 1718/27? - London, 1780), (plate 4).

Canvassing for Votes, Four Prints of an Election, Plate 2 was engraved by William Hogarth and Charles Grignion. This original engraving is printed upon early nineteenth century wove paper and with large, full margins as published by William Heath in 1822. It is a fine, original example of the satirical art created by the British artists, William Hogarth and Charles Grignion, the Elder. Canvassing for Votes, Plate II; Paulson Catalogue #199, Sixth and Final State from Four Prints of an Election (Complete set of Four Original Engravings).