Industry and Idleness - The IDLE 'PRENTICE turn'd away and sent to Sea

Date1747

Designed and engraved by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)

MediumEtching and engraving

DimensionsOther (Plate): 10 7/16 × 13 3/4in. (26.5 × 34.9cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1947-482,A

DescriptionUpper margin reads: "The IDLE 'PRENTICE turn'd away and sent to Sea."
Center caption: "Proverbs; CHAP: X Ve: 1./ A Foolish Son is the Heavines/ of his Mother".
Lower margin reads: "Design'd & Engrav'd by W.m Hogarth/ Plate 5/ Publish'd according to Act of Parliament Sep. 30, 1747."
Label TextThis print is from a set of prints known as "Industry and Idleness" by William Hogarth. In the fifth plate, the Idle Apprentice has forfeited his apprenticeship due to his misbehavior and laziness and is now being sent to join the crew of a ship. We also learn that his name is Tom Idle ("Tho. Idle his Chest.") A paper, which was dropped into the water reads "This Indenture..." The waterman is points to the gallows in the distance and another man dangles a cat-o-nine-tails (or a rope that looks like one) which suggest the harsh punishment he might receive aboard the ship. Idle's rebuttal is gesture implying horns as he points to a promontory in the distance known as "Cuckold's Point." Idle's mother weeps and is depicted directly above the Proverb, "A Foolish Son is the heavines(s) of his Mother."

The series tells stories of the parallel and sometimes intersecting lives of the wayward Idle Apprentice and the successful Industrious Apprentice. The Idle Apprentice was designed to serve as a cautionary tale, while the Industrious Apprentice's life models exemplary behavior. It was issued in 12 prints, was very met with much acclaim and commercial success when they were published in 1747. Hogarth wrote that he designed the prints to educate the youth, particularly apprentices, and therefore series was "calculated for the use & Instruction of youth w[h]erein everything necessary to be known was to be made a intelligible as possible[.] and as fine engraving was not necessary to the main design...the purchase of them became within the reach of those for whom they [were] chiefly intended." They were given by masters to their apprentices as Christmas gifts and were published at Christmas after 1749 in Lillo's 'London Merchant' for the benefit of young apprentices.

See Ronald Paulson, Hogarth's Graphic Works, I, #168-179.