A Rake’s Progress I

Although the Berlin-based engraver Daniel Chodowiecki was opposed to being overly compared to Hogarth, the latter’s influence on Chodowiecki’s work is indisputable. A comparison of the two artists in fact reveals substantial differences, a shift in the two artists’ approach to a moral subject matter. While Hogarth was a satirist, Chodowiecki is more of a preacher. While Hogarth’s scenes offer a multitude of possible readings, Chodowiecki, the younger artist, is very much in keeping with his time in focusing on the illustration of more simple and unambiguous positive examples.