How did William Hogarth influence Romantic writers?

William Hogarth’s influence on Romantic literature was significant, as his aesthetic theories and artistic approach anticipated many ideas later embraced by the Romantics.12

While Hogarth struggled to gain recognition as a history painter during his lifetime, his theoretical work, particularly The Analysis of Beauty (1753), resonated deeply with later writers. In this work, Hogarth advocated for variety, irregularity, movement, and exaggeration to achieve greater expressiveness, concepts that aligned with the sensibilities of the Romantic movement.12

Furthermore, the Romantics were among the first to recognize Hogarth's true greatness, identifying him as a pioneer whose work possessed a depth that had been largely overlooked by his contemporaries. His ability to synthesize uncompromising realism with dynamic, expressive elements—often ignored in his own era—provided a foundation that Romantic writers found intellectually and aesthetically compelling. Ultimately, his impact was felt more profoundly in the realm of literature than in the field of painting, where he struggled to find a lasting school of imitators.21