The Four Times of Day: Evening

The Four Times of Day: Evening by William Hogarth is a significant engraving created in 1738, forming one part of the artist's celebrated quartet of prints satirizing contemporary life in London. Hogarth utilized the medium of engraving to produce highly detailed, narrative images that were then sold as popular prints, ensuring accessibility to a wide 18th-century audience across the United Kingdom.

This piece is a masterful example of Georgian graphic satire, focusing not on major moral collapse but on the daily chaos and minor social indignities of the rising middle class. The scene, set in a less refined London district, captures a family returning home after a tiresome Sunday excursion. Hogarth typically depicts a pregnant woman, exhausted and disheveled, struggling alongside her husband and unruly children through muddy streets as the day turns to dusk. The composition skillfully uses the low, fading light and details like the tattered clothing and physical discomfort to provide a pointed commentary on the pretensions and unpleasant realities of urban existence.

The work showcases Hogarth’s unparalleled skill in social observation, cementing his reputation as a pioneering figure in English art history and a master of sequential narrative art. This impression of the iconic print resides in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Today, as this seminal artwork is often included in public domain archives, the satirical genius of Hogarth remains widely accessible for study and appreciation.