William Hogarth, Characters and Caricaturas, etching, 34x34 cm

William Hogarth's etching Characters and Caricaturas is designed to demonstrate the superiority of the comic character face to the grotesque caricature. Hogarth saw them as radically different arts: one is the study of individual human nature; the other makes absurd formal play with human features. In the strip along the bottom, at the left, three heads are quoted from paintings by Raphael, showing vivid but accurate portrayals of character. Then to the right there are a handful of heads by other Italian artists, stretched, squashed, with no psychological value, merely monstrous jokes. Above it, Hogarth's illustrations unfold. More than a hundred heads are laid out. They don't need exaggeration or distortion to define them. Through discriminating variations, they show what the art of character can do. It's an ID Parade from which dozens of temperaments are to be picked out. Like a line-up, Hogarth employs a repetitive format. Their heads are all in profile. They are all approximately of the same size. They are spaced roughly in rows and columns. They are all male. They are all in wigs. This etching was published in 1743.