Enthusiasm Delineated, Engraving, 1761.
This print, which was revised in 1762 as Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism: A Medley, depicts a church service and congregation. There are two preachers, a Catholic priest, on a high podium, who has failed to hide his Jesuit tonsure under his wig, and a Methodist preacher at a lectern underneath. Some of the congregation holds statues of Christ, suggesting their worship of graven images; some of them, such as the figure in the box at right, pray to saints. Others attempt to ingest their icons, which is a satire on the way they “eat up” the dogma of the priest. The priest, raised above the congregation holds a puppet of Satan and a puppet of the trinity, which he uses to entertain and manipulate the parishioners. Other puppets await use as they hang from his podium box. Below this popish scene, a Methodist preacher, flanked, as the inscription on his lectern suggests, by “a cherubim and a seraphim,” reads leads a hymn by John Wesley. The seraph has duck’s feet. The Methodist hound, whose collar identifies him as George Whitfield, howls as though in concert with the hymn. Ignoring the Methodist, most of the congregation is attending to the priest or their icons, except the couple in the box at right. As her lover slides his hand into her dress, the woman allows her icon to fall away. The bottom left corner features a woman, Mother Douglas, in a fit of ecstasy (Burke and Caldwell n. 252) and, above her, a Jew reads from the Old Testament story of the sacrifice of Isaac. The Globe of Hell hangs above the parishioners in place of a light sconce, suggesting the benighted, instead of enlightened, condition to which their religious revels have brought them. At left, a man in foreign dress looks through the window, smoking a pipe. A small poor box sits on a shelf at the bottom right of the print.Being itself a rough draft of its later reworking, Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism, Hogarth's Enthusiasm Delineated has not been analyzed heavily by art historians or critics. However, Bernd Krysmanski offers a convincing analysis of the print in his essay We See a Ghost: Hogarth's Satire on Methodists and Conoisseurs. Krysmanski suggests that in this print Hogarth finds an ingenious parallel in society between the misguided virtues of Classical enthusiasts and Methodists--that their tragically contagious enthusiasm is blind and terribly confused--to satirize. The preacher and congregation double as auctioneer and participants. He illustrates Hogarth's clever attack in analyzing the details of the print: “To underline Hogarth's critical stance towards misplaced devotion to the works of old masters, the congregation represents not only Methodist fanaticism but all forms of negative 'enthusiasm'. The blind Jew in awe of the sacrifice of Isaac stands for blind obedience...It has escaped scholars' attention, however, that Hogarth's Jew is a perfect example of another kind of irrational persuasion: he is a bigot of religious art. With blind eyes he adores two pictures borrowed from Raphael's ceiling frescoes in the Vatican Stanza d'Eliodoro" (Krysmanski 299).
In their early days in the Church of England, Methodists "reacted against perceived apathy [and[ were known for their enthusiastic sermons and often accused of fanaticism" (“Methodism”). This potentially damaging fanaticism, in Hogarth's view, left everyone in the Church "indulging in sexual excesses of one form or another or...caught up in raving or melancholy madness" (Krysmanski 302). He found this to be quite akin to another form of misguided enthusiasm prevalent in his time: mindless idolatry of classic works. It is explained that in those days it was fashionable to participate in auctions of sublime religious art which was blindly lauded for its religious face value and bought at high prices and Hogarth, "wishing to ridicule such auctions, could not have done better than to choose a glib Methodist preacher to stand for his art dealer" (299). This provides the setup for his parallelism. Enthusiasm Delineated is a powerful archetype of satire. In illustrating a ridiculous scene of fanatical preachers corrupting their savage, mindless congregation--some in blind awe of the classical idolatry being subtly displayed to them, Hogarth humorously exposes the futility of religious and classical enthusiasm and the mass confusion they bring upon society in hopes of bringing about the realization of their harm. This fulfills the purpose that effective satire serves.
Krysmanski, Bernd. “We See a Ghost: Hogarth's Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs.” The Art Bulletin 80. 2 (Jun., 1998): 292-310. Web. 6 Aug. 2014.
"Methodism." New World Encyclopedia. 29 Aug. 2008. Web. 6 Aug. 2014.
Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism: A Medley. Etching and Engraving, 1762.
In their early days in the Church of England, Methodists "reacted against perceived apathy [and[ were known for their enthusiastic sermons and often accused of fanaticism" (“Methodism”). This potentially damaging fanaticism, in Hogarth's view, left everyone in the Church "indulging in sexual excesses of one form or another or...caught up in raving or melancholy madness" (Krysmanski 302). He found this to be quite akin to another form of misguided enthusiasm prevalent in his time: mindless idolatry of classic works. It is explained that in those days it was fashionable to participate in auctions of sublime religious art which was blindly lauded for its religious face value and bought at high prices and Hogarth, "wishing to ridicule such auctions, could not have done better than to choose a glib Methodist preacher to stand for his art dealer" (299). This provides the setup for his parallelism. Enthusiasm Delineated is a powerful archetype of satire. In illustrating a ridiculous scene of fanatical preachers corrupting their savage, mindless congregation--some in blind awe of the classical idolatry being subtly displayed to them, Hogarth humorously exposes the futility of religious and classical enthusiasm and the mass confusion they bring upon society in hopes of bringing about the realization of their harm. This fulfills the purpose that effective satire serves.
Krysmanski, Bernd. “We See a Ghost: Hogarth's Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs.” The Art Bulletin 80. 2 (Jun., 1998): 292-310. Web. 6 Aug. 2014.
"Methodism." New World Encyclopedia. 29 Aug. 2008. Web. 6 Aug. 2014.
Credulity, Superstition and Fanaticism: A Medley. Etching and Engraving, 1762.
The print is a revision on Hogarth’s Enthusiasm Delineated; it satirizes the aspects of religion that lead people into intense emotional states. Hogarth expands his satire beyond the purely religious scope of the original, targeting credulity, delusion, and imposture writ large (Burke and Caldwell n. 252). For instance, instead of the Mother Douglas holding an icon of Christ, this print substitutes an image of Mary Tofts, “the breeder of Godalming,” who had managed to convinced several members of the medical profession that she was able to give birth to animals. In the throes of labor, Tofts gives birth to rabbits, which run in quick succession from under her dress. The priest at top right holds two puppets, a witch and a devil, his face expressing fury and rage. Under the preacher is a scroll that reads, “I speak as a fool.” To his right is a thermometer measuring his voice from “Natural Tone” to “Bull Roar” and the priest has reached bull roar. This thermometer, which is in the shape of a nose and gaping mouth, is affixed to the wall with a ring through the nose. Within the mouth the word “blood” is written four times (Brown 124), indicating the violent, persecution potential of the preacher’s enthusiasm. His monastic tonsure is visible as his wig flies off in his gyrations. In a further reference to Roman Catholicism, a cherub ensconced in a cloud to the left of the preacher holds in his mouth a sheet with the words “to St. Money Trap” printed upon it. There is another speaker, with a distorted countenance and angel wings, standing at a lower lectern upon which is inscribed the words “continually do cry” from the “Te Deum,” an early Christian Hymn. To the right of the lectern, a sheet of paper with the words “Only Love to be giv’n Lord we ask no other heaven, Hymn by G Whitfield, identifies the speaker as a Methodist. To the right of this speaker is a couple embracing. Instead of the icon of Christ, which the woman and many of the congregation hold in Enthusiasm Delineated, her lover tucks an icon of the Virgin into her bosom, invoking anti-Catholic beliefs about the sexual deviancy of Catholics. To the right of this couple, and below the first is another thermometer measuring the level of fanaticism in the hearts of the congregation. The base is a human heart atop two books, Glanvid’s [misprint for Glanvil] On Witches (Layard) and Wesley’s Sermons. At present, the congregation measures “luke warm” but the thermometer spans from suicidal to raving. At the top of the thermometer, an image of a deathbed and another icon of the Virgin represent these two extremes and are crowned by an image of the Cock Lane Ghost (Burke and Caldwell n. 253). Replacing the Methodist hound is a bucket and two books, Whitefield’s Journal and James I’s Of Demonology. To the left of these items, a drunken man vomits the Catholic iconography he has imbibed from his jug. To the left of the preachers there is a sconce in the shape of a globe hanging from the ceiling. Above the ghastly face of the globe are the words “The New and Correct Map of Hell by Romaine.” The globe maps terrains such as Molten Lead Lake, Bottomless Pit, and Brimstone Ocean. “Deserts of New Purgatory” implicitly connect this globe and the fear it provokes to the Catholic priest. At the cathedral window at left, a man in foreign dress looks on, smoking a pipe and smiling at the scene inside. In the lower right portion of the print, away from the congregation, is a very small poor box, which is easy to miss in the chaos.
Although Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism revises its original, Enthusiasm Delineated, to include more, non-sectarian imagery (Brown 122), Catholics and Methodists remain explicit targets of the satire. Whereas some of the congregation appear bored and distracted with the Methodist, the icon-clutching parishioners, their attention focused on the Catholic priest, appear pained and terrified by the sermon on witchcraft and Satanism. Intimations that their fear might terminate in bloodshed, as it has done in the past, are all around the print in the form of knives and inscriptions of blood. The distance of the poor box from the preachers and the congregation suggests that they have nearly completely ignored the command of Jesus to care for the poor. A final, apocalyptic prognostication, in the form of the bemused foreigner at the window, suggests that such disorder makes Hogarth’s Britain appear ridiculous, and possibly vulnerable to enemies abroad. A contemporary critic of Hogarth, John Ireland (1742-1808), suggested that the classical imagery surrounding the top pulpit resonates with the supposedly Catholic predilection for superstition and credulity, which gives us clues to interpret these images as further intimations of violence. Comparing Hogarth to Leonardo Da Vinci, Ireland says that Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism is Hogarth’s best work of satire. In his Essay on the Use and Abuse of Satire (1786) Charles Abbot (1757-1829), asserts that while this satire might seem severe and disconcerting, these images “afford the most striking and powerful incitements to virtue and to truth” (10).
According to Bernd Krysmanski, William Hogarth’s Credulity, Superstition. And Fanaticism: A Medley, “as a satire on Methodist ‘enthusiasts’ is indeed ‘horrid:’ in its vicious attack on a fanatic preacher and swooning congregation” (292). Krysmanski reads this print as a continued attack of Methodist fanaticism, and especially the preacher George Whitefield: “The name of the most prominent Methodist preacher at that time, George Whitefield, and two lines from his Collection of Hymns for Social Worship (1753) are inscribed on a slip of paper attached to the clerk’s lectern. Near the pulpit, banderole-like, is a sonometer called Whitefield’s Scale of Vociferation. It ranges from ‘Natural Tone’ to ‘Bull Roar’ another clear allusion to Whitefield, who was known for is powerful voice “ (Krysmanski 292). Some history of what George Whitefield preached to his followers sheds light on why William Hogarth felt justified in satirizing him and fanatical religious sects like the Methodists. This quote from Whitefield shows that he places religious teachings over worldly and intellectual pursuits: “I know very well when we talk of the new Birth, Regeneration, and insist upon Christians being made Partakers of a Divine Nature, we must either be counted Enthusiasts, or Madmen; or we are given to understand, that the Scholar deems these and such like Expressions as figurative, and that there is nothing real meant by these Expressions, but they are only symbolical-But those that content themselves with a figurative Regeneration, will, bye and bye, run into a real Damnation” (Whitefield 8, 9). Whitefield promulgates a strict view of religious doctrine in which anyone who doesn’t subscribe to a literal interpretation of the Bible will be damned. Whitefield also puts forth the radical notion that all Christians must undergo a divine metamorphosis from the “Old Man” to the “New Man” in order to achieve salvation. These teachings take advantage of a religious public’s fear of damnation in order to force them into falling in line with Methodist theology.
Krysmanski also explains the significance of “the Turk peering through the window” at left: “Foreign Observers were frequently used by contemporary satirists to denounce the ‘alien’ customs of the realm” (Krysmanski 297). In Hogarth’s print, however, the Turkish man is shown to the reasonable and “enlightened” observer looking into the madhouse that had become the congregation with “surprise and disgust” (Krysmanski 297). Here Hogarth subverts on the convention of his fellow artist to make alien and ridiculous the behavior of religious enthusiasts and reorient his viewers to the way they appear to the enlightened.
Works Cited:
Brown, Gerald B. William Hogarth. London: Walter Scott, 1905. Print.
Burke, Joseph and Colin Caldwell, eds. Hogarth: The Complete Engravings. New York: Abrams, 1988. Print.
Ireland, John. Hogarth Illustrated. 2 vols. London: Charles Dilly, 1793. Web. ECCO. 20 July 2014.
Krysmanski, Bernd. "We See a Ghost: Hogarth's Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs." The Art Bulletin 80.2 (jun., 1998) 292-310). Web. 24 July 2014.
Whitefield, George. The putting on the new man a certain mark of the real Christian: a sermon preached at the Tabernacle, on the fifth of January, 1750. By the late Reverend George Whitefield, M. A. Chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, Taken down in Short-Hand, and transcribed with great Care and Fidelity, By a Gentleman present. London: Printed for J. Towers, 1770. Web. 27 July 2014
Although Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism revises its original, Enthusiasm Delineated, to include more, non-sectarian imagery (Brown 122), Catholics and Methodists remain explicit targets of the satire. Whereas some of the congregation appear bored and distracted with the Methodist, the icon-clutching parishioners, their attention focused on the Catholic priest, appear pained and terrified by the sermon on witchcraft and Satanism. Intimations that their fear might terminate in bloodshed, as it has done in the past, are all around the print in the form of knives and inscriptions of blood. The distance of the poor box from the preachers and the congregation suggests that they have nearly completely ignored the command of Jesus to care for the poor. A final, apocalyptic prognostication, in the form of the bemused foreigner at the window, suggests that such disorder makes Hogarth’s Britain appear ridiculous, and possibly vulnerable to enemies abroad. A contemporary critic of Hogarth, John Ireland (1742-1808), suggested that the classical imagery surrounding the top pulpit resonates with the supposedly Catholic predilection for superstition and credulity, which gives us clues to interpret these images as further intimations of violence. Comparing Hogarth to Leonardo Da Vinci, Ireland says that Credulity, Superstition, and Fanaticism is Hogarth’s best work of satire. In his Essay on the Use and Abuse of Satire (1786) Charles Abbot (1757-1829), asserts that while this satire might seem severe and disconcerting, these images “afford the most striking and powerful incitements to virtue and to truth” (10).
According to Bernd Krysmanski, William Hogarth’s Credulity, Superstition. And Fanaticism: A Medley, “as a satire on Methodist ‘enthusiasts’ is indeed ‘horrid:’ in its vicious attack on a fanatic preacher and swooning congregation” (292). Krysmanski reads this print as a continued attack of Methodist fanaticism, and especially the preacher George Whitefield: “The name of the most prominent Methodist preacher at that time, George Whitefield, and two lines from his Collection of Hymns for Social Worship (1753) are inscribed on a slip of paper attached to the clerk’s lectern. Near the pulpit, banderole-like, is a sonometer called Whitefield’s Scale of Vociferation. It ranges from ‘Natural Tone’ to ‘Bull Roar’ another clear allusion to Whitefield, who was known for is powerful voice “ (Krysmanski 292). Some history of what George Whitefield preached to his followers sheds light on why William Hogarth felt justified in satirizing him and fanatical religious sects like the Methodists. This quote from Whitefield shows that he places religious teachings over worldly and intellectual pursuits: “I know very well when we talk of the new Birth, Regeneration, and insist upon Christians being made Partakers of a Divine Nature, we must either be counted Enthusiasts, or Madmen; or we are given to understand, that the Scholar deems these and such like Expressions as figurative, and that there is nothing real meant by these Expressions, but they are only symbolical-But those that content themselves with a figurative Regeneration, will, bye and bye, run into a real Damnation” (Whitefield 8, 9). Whitefield promulgates a strict view of religious doctrine in which anyone who doesn’t subscribe to a literal interpretation of the Bible will be damned. Whitefield also puts forth the radical notion that all Christians must undergo a divine metamorphosis from the “Old Man” to the “New Man” in order to achieve salvation. These teachings take advantage of a religious public’s fear of damnation in order to force them into falling in line with Methodist theology.
Krysmanski also explains the significance of “the Turk peering through the window” at left: “Foreign Observers were frequently used by contemporary satirists to denounce the ‘alien’ customs of the realm” (Krysmanski 297). In Hogarth’s print, however, the Turkish man is shown to the reasonable and “enlightened” observer looking into the madhouse that had become the congregation with “surprise and disgust” (Krysmanski 297). Here Hogarth subverts on the convention of his fellow artist to make alien and ridiculous the behavior of religious enthusiasts and reorient his viewers to the way they appear to the enlightened.
Works Cited:
Brown, Gerald B. William Hogarth. London: Walter Scott, 1905. Print.
Burke, Joseph and Colin Caldwell, eds. Hogarth: The Complete Engravings. New York: Abrams, 1988. Print.
Ireland, John. Hogarth Illustrated. 2 vols. London: Charles Dilly, 1793. Web. ECCO. 20 July 2014.
Krysmanski, Bernd. "We See a Ghost: Hogarth's Satire on Methodists and Connoisseurs." The Art Bulletin 80.2 (jun., 1998) 292-310). Web. 24 July 2014.
Whitefield, George. The putting on the new man a certain mark of the real Christian: a sermon preached at the Tabernacle, on the fifth of January, 1750. By the late Reverend George Whitefield, M. A. Chaplain to the Countess of Huntingdon, Taken down in Short-Hand, and transcribed with great Care and Fidelity, By a Gentleman present. London: Printed for J. Towers, 1770. Web. 27 July 2014