So far we have dealt with work done by Hogarth in his individual capacity. Let us now turn to such of his collaborative work as suffered cancellation.
In dealing with the series of suppressed Quixote plates we shall be brought into touch with two not uninteresting and accessory episodes in the artist’s career. In the first of these Hogarth made a great success, where a rival artist had made a signal failure. In the second, by way of righting the balance of things, fate ordained it that this same artist should badly best Hogarth, and that in a manner peculiarly galling to the latter’s vanity.
Hogarth’s father-in-law was Sir James Thornhill, {112} whose drawing academy in Covent Garden had not proved as valuable an institution as had been anticipated. Johan Van der Banck, the rival artist above alluded to, had been one of Sir James’s pupils. By heading a secession and establishing a rival school he had undoubtedly largely contributed to the failure of his master’s venture. However, in due time, his school too proved to be lacking in the elements of success, and came to an untimely end.
On Sir James’s death the “neglected apparatus” of his father-in-law passed into Hogarth’s hands, and he set to work to establish the academy on a different footing. The result was that it became a successful educational centre, which only ceased to exist many years afterwards on the establishment of the Royal Academy. A picture by Hogarth of the interior of the school with the students drawing from life is to be seen on the staircase leading to the Diploma Gallery at Burlington House.
In this case Hogarth had the laugh on his side. In the other, which is immediately relevant to our subject, the laugh was with Van der Banck.
| Portrait of Hogarth with His Dog Trump* | The plate reversed and in its last state, now entitled “The Bruiser” |
Portrait of Hogarth with His Dog Trump*
