The Innkeeper's Wife and Daughter Taking Care of ye Don after Being Beaten and Bruised (Six Illustrations for Don Quixote), created by William Hogarth in 1756, is a significant example of British visual engagement with European literature. This print, executed using the detailed and laborious methods of etching and engraving, represents the third and definitive state of the composition.
Hogarth chose to illustrate the less glamorous aspects of the knight’s adventures, focusing here on the immediate aftermath of a brutal confrontation. The scene captures the humanitarian efforts of the innkeeper’s wife and daughter, central female figures who attend to the wounded Don Quixote. The depiction emphasizes the knight’s physical suffering, grounding the fantastic narrative in painful reality.
Known for his incisive social commentary, Hogarth ensures that all figures, both the assisting women and the injured men, are rendered with characteristic realism. The composition is further enhanced by subtle symbolic elements; an owl perched above the scene introduces an element of watchful folly, reflective of the Don’s delusion. These illustrations exemplify the period’s appreciation for prints that combined narrative detail with technical mastery. This important historical work documenting the spread of Don Quixote’s influence is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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