Sigismonda after Hogarth - Benjamin Smith Stipple Engraving - 1795

Original stipple engraving by Benjamin Smith after William Hogarth's Sigismonda, then in the collection of Alderman Boydell. The heroine of Boccaccio's Decameron contemplates the cup holding the heart of her lover Guiscardo. A large-format engraving published by J. & J. Boydell.

Hogarth painted Sigismonda in 1759 with the ambition of measuring himself against the Italian masters; the work was harshly attacked by the critics and he withdrew it from the market himself. Boydell later acquired it and commissioned this engraving, published on June 4, 1795 and accompanied at the foot by verses.

Medium: Stipple engraving.
Artist / after: William Hogarth (London, 1697-1764).
Engraver: Benjamin Smith (1754-1833).
Date: Published June 4, 1795.
Source: Published by J. & J. Boydell, Cheapside and Shakspeare Gallery, Pall Mall, London; after the painting in the collection of Alderman Boydell.
Dimensions: Plate mark 15.9 x 17.7 in (40.5 x 45 cm); sheet 18.9 x 24.4 in (48 x 62 cm).
Condition: Foxing in the right margin and small handling tears at the edges, which do not affect the image.