William Hogarth, English pride and 18th century gallophobia

In early 1745, Britain's terrible year, Prince Charles Edward Stuart’s attempt to overthrow the House of Hanover and restore the House of Stuart to Britain was taken very seriously. By Sept,  rebellion in Scotland by the Highland Jacobites seemed to be succeeding. By late 1745 the Young Pretender Bonnie Prince Charlie and his Jacobite men had marched south to Manchester, opposed by two armies commanded by the Duke of Cumberland. Late in the year, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his army were marching north of London! Orders were issued that all Grenadier Guards should march immediately to the encampment at Finchley Common. The Duke of Cumberland and his troops were the last barrier between the Stuart prince and London.

11th Lord Lovat in St Albans, 1747

A Scottish Jacobite supporter, just Prior to His Execution

At least in 1746, God must have been Protestant. A battle was fought on Culloden Moor near Inverness: supporters of the exiled House of Stuart VS the Duke of Cumberland’s British army. The government victory ended the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and caused the closing down of Highland culture to pun­ish Stuart supporters. The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in Oct 1748 finally ended hostilities between Britain and France, meaning that no French-sponsored attempt to restore the Stuarts would ever re-occur.

My question is: why did William Hogarth (1697–1764) paint themes dealing with the Jacobite Rebellion, after it had been crushed? Consider his engraving of the Jacobite Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat prior to his execution in 1747. This leader of Clan Fraser had unlimited personal ambition. He recruited a small regiment in apparent service to William and Mary but was actually planning to desert to the Stuarts. In fact he sneakily converted to Catholicism, to have an entry into those exiled Stuarts and their French allies. 

The National Gallery of Scotland has the print, but why did Hogarth go to see Lovat while he was in custody in St Albans, before his London trial for high treason? Certainly Lovat was the last of the rebel Scottish lords to be executed after the Jacobite Rebellion, so did Hogarth see a chance to make money? In the event, Hogarth printed c10,000 copies of this etching, which were sold for a shilling each!

Hogarth was not impressed when in France in 1748, and decided to return home early. While waiting at Calais for a boat, he sat down to sketch the city gate. Beneath the city gate of Calais, a chef struggled to carry English beef destined for British travellers at the English Inn in Calais. Alas Hogarth was wrongly arrested for espionage and sent home. The painting O The Roast Beef of Old England was his revenge. In the centre a waiter was struggling under a hunk of beef intended for red-blooded British tourists. Naturally, Hogarth believed, the feeble-looking French soldiers who lived on snails and onions would envy the beef. Hogarth depicted himself sketching, the heavy hand of the French law about to take him away. He was clearly saying that Britain’s enemies, the French, Scottish highlanders and Irish Catholics, were weedy and pathetic.

Yet Hogarth admired the French Huguenots in England. He contrasted the prosperous, smartly-dressed and sober Huguenot churchgoers with the more chaotic group of English outside taverns in Soho. Hogarth admired with Huguenot craftsmen in the area, their diligence and skills.

O The Roast Beef of Old England, 1748

The Tate London

The March of the Guards to Finchley 1749 may have been intended as a satire, poking fun at an unprepared British government and a chaotic army. But March to Finchley was painted AFTER the Jacobite rebellion had been defeated. It seems that Hogarth was warning his fellow citizens that even now to remain on alert; that the French could never be trusted! Beneath the Adam & Eve Tavern sign, a French dandy whispered "invasion" to an ecstatic or demented Jacobite sympathiser. The haggard woman with a crucifix clutched Catholic and anti-government newspapers! On the other arm was a very pregnant woman, a basket with a scroll saying God Save the King. The soldier was Hogarth's Britain; the two women were fighting for his loyalty. 

These works were Hogarth's warning to Britain. But despite the haranguing Jacobite, the young Briton and his young mistress appeared to be mov­ing forward together in step: Britain had already made up its mind. 

The March of the Guards to Finchley, 1749

Thomas Coram Foundling Museum

There were two didactic Invasion Prints c1756 (at the Tate) produced by Hogarth at the outbreak of the 7 Years War of 1756–63 when a re-invasion from France seemed likely. In Invasion France, a French monk sharpened his executioner's axe. In front of him were implements of torture and Catholic icons. With such items he was preparing to convert the British to Catholicism. Behind him a grouping of French soldiers represented chaos i.e starvation and fanaticism. In Invasion England the citizens were healthy, happy and prosperous. The English tavern had a large beefsteak on the table, a mug of beer and weapons. Clearly the French would never taste England's prized produce. In the background, eager British soldiers drilled in an orderly manner.

These images were in sharp contrast. On one hand Hogarth was a powerful critic of French society and military terror. On the other hand he was a warm supporter of English freedom and courage.

What was Hogarth’s artistic goal in getting involved in the Jacobite Rebellion? He saw great dangers in Catholicism and really distrusted the French. Would depicting the Jacobite Rebellion have any negative influence on his income stream or reputation? Apparently not, if his Lord Lovat experience was a guide. In any case, Hogarth was a canny artist. Note the “March to Finchley” print was dedicated to Frederick II, a Prussian king, rather than King George II. Yet King George appointed another artist as Painter in Ordinary to the King, a position Hogarth wanted.

**The UK held a referendum on 23rd June 2016 to decide if the nation will stay in or leave the European Union. Years after writing this post, Jonathan Jones is now reinterpreting Hogarth's O The Roast Beef of Old England in contemporary terms.  The painting helps us understand what the Brexit-leaning public in Britain are thinking...it was the funniest slice of cocksure nationalism in British art. It sneered at France and, by extension, the entire European continent.

Hogarth's painting O! The Roast Beef of Old England was a tease – there was no hate in it. It expressed a more subtle sentiment: economic superiority. So the impulse driving Britain towards isolation now may not be bigotry, fear of The Other or any of the other horrors that Remainers imagine. It may be to do with the economy after all.