The Company of Undertakers is a satirical print created by William Hogarth in 1736, utilizing the combined techniques of etching and engraving to deliver a scathing social critique. Hogarth, a master of 18th-century visual commentary, aimed this piece squarely at the avarice and ineptitude prevalent among medical professionals and those who profited from death in Georgian London.
The composition features an assembly of influential men portrayed as members of a fictional corporation or guild. These figures are intentionally exaggerated and grotesque, representing specific types of quacks and dubious practitioners satirized throughout contemporary society. The work’s central irony lies in depicting physicians, surgeons, and undertakers as indistinguishable exploiters, suggesting that both cure and death are equally commercialized endeavors. As a seminal example of British prints, the medium allowed for rapid reproduction and broad circulation, ensuring Hogarth’s commentary reached a wide public domain audience across different social strata.
This specific impression is documented as the second state of two, illustrating Hogarth’s meticulous revision process common to his graphic works created for mass distribution. Hogarth’s penetrating focus on the power dynamics between these authoritative men and their hapless patients makes The Company of Undertakers an essential document for understanding the social tensions of the era. The work is classified as a print and resides in the robust collection of European drawings and prints at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
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