The engraving A Midnight modern Conversation by the English genre and satirical painter and printmaker William Hogarth (1697–1764) belongs to the artist’s most discussed and interpreted works ever since its creation in 1733. On the basis of two detailed period commentaries on this engraving by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1786 and 1794), the study draws attention to Hogarth’s representation of sociability from the point of view of theories of conversation and conviviality in the 18th century, and from the point of view of the philosophy of human nature.
JavaScript is turned off in your web browser. Turn it on to take full advantage of this site, then refresh the page.