Morning

Date1738

Designed and engraved by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)

MediumEtching and line engraving

DimensionsOverall: 22 1/2 × 18in. (57.2 × 45.7cm) Other (Plate): 19 × 15 1/2in. (48.3 × 39.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1966-494

DescriptionLower margin reads: "Invented Painted Engrav'd & Publish'd by W.m Hogarth March 25, 1738 according to Act of Parliament./ MORNING
Label TextThis is plate one of William Hogarth's series "The Four Times of Day" which shows the progress of a day from morning to night around London. They play on the tradition of representing gods and goddesses to show the times of day. Hogarth recasts these deities as the central characters of the prints. In this scene, Morning, a well-dressed woman, representing Aurora (the personification of dawn), walks through Covent Garden towards the Church of St. Paul on a chilly winter morning. The clock in the pediment of the church reads "6:55." She stops and looks, disapprovingly, at the crowd gathered outside of Tom King's Coffee House, a notorious tavern that opened at midnight and carried on until the morning.