STEEL ENGRAVING - From the original engraving by William Hogarth. The engraving measures 5 1/2"x 7 1/2", and is matted to 11" x 14" for easy framing.  This engraving is in very good condition, and dates to the mid-1800's.  The following is the title of the picture with a description from "The Works of William Hogarth".  A copy of which I will include with the engraving.

WILLIAM HOGARTH

“ANALYSIS OF BEAUTY-PLATE II.”

                                  “Though rosy youth embloom the sprightly fair,

                                    And beauty mould her with a lover’s care;

                                    If motion to the form denies a grace,

                                    Vain is the beauty that adorns the face.”

This design was made about the year 1728, and is said to be a grotesque representation of the Wanstead assembly; and contains portraits of the first Earl Tilney, his countess, &c. In the tall young lady, he has evidently aimed at Milton’s description of motion - smooth, sliding without step; but her air is affected. Her noble partner was intended for a portrait of George III, then Prince of Wales. It might be a just representation of the Wanstead bells and beaux; but since that period we have had so many ship-loads of grace imported from the continent, and such numbers of well-educated gentlemen, who have exerted their talent in perfecting the divine art of dancing, that this picture would not do for the present day.

       The fatigued figures that labour through the dance, Mr. Hogarth thus explains: -

OF ATTITUDE.

         “Such dispositions of the body and limbs as appear most graceful when seen at rest, depend upon gentle winding contrasts, mostly governed by the precise serpentine line, which, in attitudes of authority, are more extended and spreading than ordinary, but reduced somewhat below the medium of grace, in those of negligence and ease; and as much exaggerated in insolent and proud carriage, or distortions of pain, as lessened and contracted into plain and parallel lines, to express meanness, awkwardness, and submission.

       “The general idea of an action, as well as of an attitude, may be given with a pencil in very few lines. It is easy to conceive that the attitude of a person upon the cross may be fully signified by the true straight lines of the cross, so the extended manner of St. Andrew’s crucifixion is wholly understood by the X-like cross.

        “Thus, as two or three lines at first are sufficient to show the intention of an attitude. I will take this opportunity of presenting my reader with the sketch of a country dance, in the manner I began to set out the design. In order to show how few lines are necessary to express the first thoughts, as to different attitudes, which describes, in some measure, the several figures and actions, mostly of the ridiculous kind, that are represented in the chief part of it.

       “The most amiable person may deform his general appearance by throwing his body and limbs into plain lines; but such lines appear in a still more disagreeable light in people of a particular make; I have, therefore, chosen such figures as I thought would agree best with my first score of lines.

      “The two parts of curves, served for the figures of the old woman and her partner, at the farther end of the room. The curve and two straight lines at right angels, gave the hint for the fat man’s sprawling posture. I next resolved to keep a figure within the bound of a circle, which produced the upper part of the fat woman between the fat man and the awkward one in the bag-wig, for whom I had made a sort of an X. The prim lady his partner, in the riding habit, by perking back her elbows, as they call it, from the waist upwards, made a tolerable D, with a straight line under it, to signify the scanty stiffness of her petticoat; and the Z stood for the angular position the body makes with the legs and thighs of the affected fellow in the tie-wig; the upper part of his plump partner was confined to an O; and this, changed into a P, served as a hint for the straight lines behind. The uniform diamond of a card was filled up by the flying dress, of the little capering figure in the Spencer wig; whilst a double L marked the parallel position of his poking partner’s hands and arms: and, lastly, the two waving lines were drawn for the more genteel turns of the two figures at the hither end.”

      Such is the author’s alphabetical analysis of his serpentine system, which some of our readers may possibly think borders on the visionary: certain it is, that however he may have failed in his two specimens of grace, those of awkwardness are carried as far as they could have been in a Russian dance, when Peter the Great ordained that no lady of any age should presume to get intoxicated before nine o’clock.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, etchings, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, lithographs, ect. are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated in the auction, thus giving the buyer an idea of it's age.

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