Hogarth and the Art of Noise


Fascinating exhibition at the Foundling Hospital using Hogarth’s “March of the Guards to Finchley” to look at the noises of 18th century London and how he showed the five senses in his work.

Although this show was quite text heavy, and there wasn’t a lot of original material, it outlined its narrative really well and was packed full of interesting facts, figures and ideas. With the painting on one wall it took you around aspects of the pictures in detail while listening to a soundscape of the noises in it.

It really showed you the detail of the picture and the symbolism of all aspects of it. I’d not come across the idea that a man peeing in a picture can be a reference to syphilis and therefore the problems in society as one symptom is the need to pee and this case this was highlighted by the gentleman in question looking at a poster for a cure.

The girl shown here has a copy of the National Anthem in her basket which had been published in the new arrangement shown here the year the picture was representing. The show also talked about James Figg’s boxing amphitheatre shown in the picture and the fact that the cats on the roof on the right hand side were a sign that the building was a brothel and in fact it showed a well-known madam, Mother Douglas.

The show made you look at this picture, which was sold by lottery of which 2000 tickets were sold in aid of the Foundling Hospital, in a completely new way.

Closed on 1 September 2019

Review
Guardian

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