The Company of Undertakers

The Company of Undertakers by William Hogarth is a masterful and cutting satirical print executed between 1736 and 1737. This significant work falls within the classification of graphic arts, specifically utilizing the detailed, labor-intensive techniques of etching and engraving. Created during a fertile period for narrative visual culture in Britain, the piece exemplifies the artist’s sharp perspective on contemporary society, firmly placing it within the historical context of the 1726 to 1750 era.

Hogarth, widely recognized as the preeminent chronicler of 18th-century British life and manners, employed the accessible medium of prints to broadcast his critiques widely. While the title directly references the funerary profession, this work extends Hogarth’s signature interest in ridiculing incompetence, vanity, and corruption, issues that often plagued the medical and commercial sectors of Georgian London. The careful lines achieved through the complex etching and engraving processes allowed Hogarth to render the figures and symbols with a clarity that amplified the visual humor and intellectual weight of the satire.

This essential print remains a touchstone for studying the graphic arts tradition of the British school. Its inclusion in a major American institution underscores its historical importance; the work resides today in the extensive collection of the National Gallery of Art. Because of its age and cultural significance, the original copper plate prints and subsequent digital reproductions often become part of the public domain, guaranteeing that this seminal piece of 18th-century visual satire remains accessible for continued academic research and appreciation globally.