Art Analysis: The Graham Children

This essay provides a detailed analysis of William Hogarth's painting, "The Graham Children." It examines the artwork's composition, style, setting, figures, light, texture, shape, space, and color and tone. The analysis delves into the symbolism present in the painting, noting the children's attire, the presence of a cat, a silver basket of fruit, carnations, and a clock with hourglass and scythe, suggesting themes of life and death. The essay also references scholarly sources to support its interpretations, including works by Jackson (2016), Payne (2015), and Sadier et al. (2012), along with an online source by Hogarth (2010). The overall analysis demonstrates a thorough understanding of the artwork's artistic elements and their potential meanings.

EDUCATION, CHILDREN
AND MEDIA
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This artwork caught my attention because it is a life size group portrait describing
the age of different childhood. They all came from a wealthy family as they are dressed
well such as professional middle or merchant classes.
Name of the artwork- The Graham Children
Name of the Artist- William Hogarth
Date made- 1742
Medium of work- Oil on canvas
Composition- It can be evaluated from the image that the children is seemed to belong
from a royal family and wearing modern dresses as they are about to attend a party. The
background of the room is dark and therefore it is hard to make anything out of it. The curtain
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that draped behind one of the child is more than a device that helps in making sound of a bird-
organ. However, through carrying out close examination it reveals that there are couple of
paintings on the back side of the wall one of which depicts a dark shore with a tower (Sadier and
et. al., 2012).
Style- It is an abstract style used by painter.
Setting- It can be observed that it is an indoor picture that involves four children dressed
fine (Hogarth, 2010).
Figures- It can be assessed that all children in the picture seems to be happy, full of life.
However, it can be stated that the baby Thomas who is sitting on the left died before the painting
was completed. Robert sitting on right hand side is sitting on a chair which is more that a device
called bird-organ. However, the other two girls are unaware about the drama while, baby
Thomas is looking for the cherries (Payne, 2015). A cat is also looking from the back of the boy
chair. Thomas the little girl is sitting on a go cart chair which is pulled by someone else. There is
a silver basket of fruit lied in the side of infant and on the floor their lying two carnations in
order to give tribute to the dead child. Behind there is a large clock with hourglass and scythe
objects that are linked to death. The children's are dressed well. Girls are in skirts. While the boy
wears knee breeches as his father also would have wear that (Jackson, 2016).
Light- There is darkness in the room therefore; it is hard to identify anything there.
Texture- The texture of walls is looking old with the paintings that are hanged upon it.
Shape- The shape of canvas is a portrait type of image that shows four children with
unique dresses.
Space- The space of room is very less and they all are sitting in a congesting position.
Color and tone- The color and tone of the image are dark and thus, it is not able to
depict anything clearly.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Jackson, M., 2016. Artwork as Technics. Educational Philosophy and Theory. pp.1-11.
Payne, A. J., 2015. The Virtual, Alternate Spaces, and the Effects upon Artwork. Handbook of
Research on Digital Media and Creative Technologies. pp.60.
Sadier, B. and et.al., 2012. Further constraints on the Chauvet cave artwork elaboration.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109(21). pp.8002-8006.
Online
Hogarth, W., 2010. To see with our own eyes HOGARTH BETWEEN NATIVE EMPIRICISM
AND A THEORY OF BEAUTY IN FORM. [PDF]. Available through:
<http://archiv.ub.uni-heidelberg.de/artdok/1217/1/Davis_Fontes52.pdf>. [Accessed on 3rd
March 2016].
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