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It was developed from the practice of printing patterns on textiles from woodblocks. Woodcuts were cheap to produce, which made them suitable as a medium for mass communication. \r\n\r\nHogarth deliberately used the technique here to ensure that the print was accessible to as large an audience as possible. This is one of a series of four prints entitled <i>The Four Stages of Cruelty</i>, exploring the issue of human cruelty both to humans and to animals.","physicalDescription":"'Cruelty in Perfection' part of Hogarth's series 'The Four Stages of Cruelty'. 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Woodcut on paper by John Bell, after Hogarth's design. 1750.","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"Lambert, Susan. <u>Prints : Art and Techniques</u>. London : V&A Publications, 2001. p 10-11 : ill."}],"production":"See a version of this subject etched by Hogarth, DYCE.2778.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Nero, Tom","id":"N1658"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"churchyard","id":"AAT8170"},{"text":"murders","id":"AAT69676"},{"text":"woman","id":"x35642"},{"text":"men","id":"AAT25928"},{"text":"corpses","id":"x36214"},{"text":"bats (animal)","id":"x30092"},{"text":"owls","id":"x30399"},{"text":"lanterns (lighting devices)","id":"AAT37647"},{"text":"pitchfork","id":"x40246"},{"text":"letters (correspondence)","id":"AAT26879"}],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"cruelty","id":"x32050"},{"text":"death","id":"x30761"},{"text":"murder","id":"x36223"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Woodcuts were cheaper to make than other kinds of print, so the engraver William Hogarth, hoping to expand his market, asked John Bell to cut this image in wood. Hogarth believed that style should reflect subject matter and Bell’s broad, energetic lines effectively match the brutality of the story told here. Hogarth eventually found the cost of making the woodcuts higher than expected and abandoned the idea.","date":{"text":"August 2019","earliest":"2019-08-01","latest":"2019-08-31"}}],"partNumbers":["E.603-1985"],"accessionNumberNum":"603","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":1985,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-04-24","recordCreationDate":"2002-11-15","availableToBook":false}}