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1972-409,154, Print
Tail Piece, or The Bathos
1972-409,154, Print

Tail Piece, or The Bathos

Date1795-1822
Engraver William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)
Engraver James Heath (1757 - 1834)
OriginEngland, London
MediumLine engraving and etching on wove paper
DimensionsOther (Platemark): 12 11/16 × 13 1/4in. (32.2 × 33.7cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1972-409,154
DescriptionUpper margin reads, "Tail Piece."
Lower margin reads, "The Bathos,/ Manner of Sinking, in Sublime Paintings,/ inscribed to the Dealers in Dark Pictures./ Design'd and Engrav'd by W.m Hogarth./ Published according to Act of Parliam.t March 3.d 1764/ The Conic Form in/ w.ch the Goddess of Beauty worship.d/ by the ancients/ at Paphos in y.e/ Island of Cyprus./ See the Medals/ Struck when/ a Roman Empe/ ror visited/ the Temple/ "Simulacrum Deae non effigie humana/ continuus orbis latiore initio tenuem in ambitum, metae modo, exsurgens set ratio/ in obscuro." Tacit: Hist: Lib:2./ "Venus a Paphus colitur; cuius simula/ cum nulli rei magis assimile, quam/ alba Pyramidi./ Maximus Tyrius Ann. 157./ See the manner of disgracing y.e most Se/ rious Subjects, in many celebrated old Pictures; by introducing Low, absurd, ob/ scene & often prophane Circumstances into them./ A copy of the precise/ Line of Beauty, as it/ is represented on/ the 1.st explanatory/ Plate of the A/ nalysis of Beauty,/ Note the Simila/ rity of these two/ Conic Figures,/ did not occur to/ the Author, till two/ or three Years/ after his publicati/ on of the Analy/ sis, in 1754./ * fig: 26."
Label TextIn the center of his print, a winged figure representing "Time" smokes a broken pipe, the smoke labeled “FINIS,” and holding a broken scythe. Ten days before the publication of this print, there was a total eclipse of the sun. This piece was considered particularly bleak because it depicted the apocalypse without an afterlife. This was Hogarth’s final engraving and a farewell that tied all of his works together. Hogarth, a celebrated engraver and painter, died six months after the print’s publication.

Throughout this detailed print, Hogarth references many of his past works. Hogarth's "Time" first made an appearance in Hogarth's works in his ca. 1761 engraving "Time Smoking a Picture." This print references “The Times, Plate I” (see 1959-435), a print Hogarth engraved about two years earlier. By Time’s feet, “The Times, Plate I” is being consumed by candle fire, and a crooked signpost has a flaming globe, like the globe in the center of “The Times, Plate I.”