The Idle 'Prentice Turned Away and Sent to Sea (Industry and Idleness, plate 5)

The Idle 'Prentice Turned Away and Sent to Sea (Industry and Idleness, plate 5) by William Hogarth, dating from 1747, is a pivotal work of 18th-century British social commentary. Executed in the challenging dual medium of etching and engraving, this print serves as the fifth installment in Hogarth’s famed cautionary series, Industry and Idleness. This monumental graphic cycle systematically contrasts the paths of two London apprentices, illustrating the tragic inevitability facing those who reject hard work and morality in favor of vice and distraction.

The scene vividly depicts the dire consequence confronting the idle apprentice. Surrounded by stern, authoritative men forcing him toward a waiting boat, the work delivers its moral message directly. Hogarth masterfully employs visual satire to condemn laziness; the unwilling subject is literally turned away from the stable society of the city and banished to the harsh, unpredictable life at sea. The detailed rendering of the boats and the activity along the Thames waterfront setting is critical, symbolizing both economic potential for the diligent and forced exile for the negligent.

This impression, which falls into the second state of three, shows developmental refinement in the details of the etching and engraving process. Hogarth’s distribution strategy often provided wide access to copies of his images, ensuring the content reached a vast audience, cementing his role as a popular visual moralist whose prints were frequently available for reproduction in the public domain. This significant example of 18th-century graphic arts, highlighting the artist's enduring commitment to societal critique, is held within the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.