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Why did William Hogarth include Shakespeare Milton and Swift in his self-portrait?
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William Hogarth
The Painter and His Pug, self-portrait by William Hogarth, oil on canvas, 1745; in the Tate Gallery, London.
In his famous 1745 self-portrait, William Hogarth included volumes of the works of William Shakespeare, John Milton, and Jonathan Swift as part of an artistic manifesto.1
By placing these literary giants alongside his own portrait, his pug dog, and a palette inscribed with his "line of beauty"—a symbol representing the variety, intricacy, and expressiveness of nature—Hogarth was asserting his own intellectual and creative stature. The inclusion of these specific authors served to align his work with the depth and cultural significance of the greatest English writers of the time.1