William Hogarth (london, 1697 - Id, 1764). The Audience Laughs. Engraved In London 1822.

William Hogarth is considered the British artist who best represented the social and political reality of his time in a critical and satirical manner. His training began as an apprentice engraver to Ellis Gamble until he established himself independently in 1720. The artificiality of the Rococo style at the time in England, which depended largely on influences from abroad, was clearly clashed with Hogarth's view of his London Society observation. This sharp contrast meant that in the 1930s his work began to be taken into account as social criticism and his career, not only as an engraver but also as a painter, began to have repercussions in artistic circles. The cartoon depicts a theater hall with a laughing audience at a scene we cannot see. In the lower part, the orchestra with the musicians solemnly blowing the musical instruments and above them a wall lined with spikes. In the audience, a sour and tense character, obviously a critic, and in the dressing room two characters entertained by women with baskets, the so-called "Orange Girls", prostitutes of the time, who worked in the theaters between the scenes.