0:00:14 > 0:00:20In 1730, Covent Garden was, much as today, a hive of activity -
0:00:20 > 0:00:23busy markets and bustling crowds.
0:00:23 > 0:00:27But it was also the scene of a sad, but illuminating, event.
0:00:30 > 0:00:34"Lost from the Broadcloth warehouse in the little Piazza Covent Garden -
0:00:34 > 0:00:38"a light-coloured Dutch dog with a black muzzle,
0:00:38 > 0:00:40"and answers to the name Pug.
0:00:41 > 0:00:45"Whoever has found him and will bring him to the said place
0:00:45 > 0:00:48"shall have half a guinea reward."
0:00:48 > 0:00:50What was so special about Pug?
0:00:50 > 0:00:53The answer is, he belonged to the man who was probably
0:00:53 > 0:00:55England's greatest artist -
0:00:55 > 0:00:57William Hogarth.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02This was a lost dog with a difference.
0:01:02 > 0:01:05Behind it lies a tale, not just of a devoted owner,
0:01:05 > 0:01:09but an important key to Hogarth's life and work.
0:01:09 > 0:01:13This plucky breed appears time and again in his prints and paintings.
0:01:13 > 0:01:18And I intend to reveal what these canine cameos can tell us
0:01:18 > 0:01:21about the pretensions of the privileged classes,
0:01:21 > 0:01:24the shadowy world of freemasonry,
0:01:24 > 0:01:28but, above all, about the character of Hogarth himself.
0:01:30 > 0:01:35I also hope to recover a long lost a piece of Hogarth heritage,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39a terracotta sculpture of his iconic pug Trump.
0:01:40 > 0:01:44It's a tale of paintings, porcelain and pugs.
0:01:55 > 0:01:59You may wonder where my obsession with all things Hogarth began...
0:01:59 > 0:02:03For most of my working life I've been dealing with crockery -
0:02:03 > 0:02:09identifying, cataloguing and lecturing on all things ceramic.
0:02:09 > 0:02:13But one lunch-time, to take a break from looking at pots
0:02:13 > 0:02:16I went to the National Gallery.
0:02:16 > 0:02:18Here amongst the priceless Old Masters
0:02:18 > 0:02:21there was one work that grabbed my attention.
0:02:24 > 0:02:27And here it is.
0:02:27 > 0:02:32William Hogarth's Marriage a La Mode, painted in 1743.
0:02:32 > 0:02:37The story is the union of an aristocrat
0:02:37 > 0:02:39who has fallen on hard times
0:02:39 > 0:02:43with a young woman who is about to inherit nouveau riche money.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47This is what Hogarth has become most famous for,
0:02:47 > 0:02:50what he called his "modern moral subjects".
0:02:50 > 0:02:52This is arguably his finest -
0:02:52 > 0:02:57a series which highlights the folly of marrying for money not love,
0:02:57 > 0:03:01resulting in adultery, murder and suicide.
0:03:01 > 0:03:06But it's an earlier scene which captures my professional interest.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09So here is our hero and heroine having breakfast.
0:03:11 > 0:03:14They look deliriously happy.
0:03:14 > 0:03:17He has just come back from a night on the tiles,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and his dog has sniffed out a lace bonnet.
0:03:24 > 0:03:27But what caught my eye, as a ceramics specialist,
0:03:27 > 0:03:31was these - the table and the mantelpiece.
0:03:31 > 0:03:33What on earth is going on there?
0:03:34 > 0:03:36Well, I can tell you as a ceramics historian
0:03:36 > 0:03:39the little bottles certainly exist - they could be snuff bottles.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44But, hang on, what are those two white figures
0:03:44 > 0:03:47standing either end of the mantelpiece
0:03:47 > 0:03:49with their hands like this?
0:03:49 > 0:03:52What are they?
0:03:52 > 0:03:54They don't exist.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58Hogarth is using these figures standing there
0:03:58 > 0:04:01to send the couple up.
0:04:01 > 0:04:05They are collectors with no taste whatsoever.
0:04:09 > 0:04:11The world had gone crazy for porcelain.
0:04:11 > 0:04:12London was getting richer
0:04:12 > 0:04:16and the rich had to do something with their money,
0:04:16 > 0:04:18and they bought stuff.
0:04:18 > 0:04:21They crammed their houses with knick-knacks.
0:04:21 > 0:04:23They started collecting.
0:04:23 > 0:04:28And this was one of the big issues, the moral issues, of Hogarth's day -
0:04:28 > 0:04:30luxury, it's bad for us.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37Which makes me wonder what Hogarth thought of the fact that
0:04:37 > 0:04:41one of the most fashionable pieces of China at the time
0:04:41 > 0:04:44was an early piece of Hogarth merchandise.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48And it didn't depict this faith or even his work.
0:04:48 > 0:04:52It was a porcelain figurine of one of his beloved pugs - Trump.
0:04:54 > 0:04:59Porcelain was introduced into Europe from China in the 1500s
0:04:59 > 0:05:04but it wasn't until the early 1700s that European factories
0:05:04 > 0:05:06managed to produce their own.
0:05:06 > 0:05:08Beginning with Meissen in Germany,
0:05:08 > 0:05:13the English would finally crack the recipe in the 1740s.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Among the very first was the Chelsea factory
0:05:15 > 0:05:20which swiftly set about tapping into popular tastes.
0:05:20 > 0:05:22And this is one of the great pieces
0:05:22 > 0:05:24of early English porcelain.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27Just look at this wonderful little dog.
0:05:27 > 0:05:29Are you a dog owner? I am.
0:05:29 > 0:05:32It's a huge irony that Hogarth -
0:05:32 > 0:05:38the man who satirises luxury and conspicuous consumption -
0:05:38 > 0:05:41suddenly finds that his very own dog
0:05:41 > 0:05:44has become the object of this luxury.
0:05:44 > 0:05:48Because these would have been very, very expensive at the time.
0:05:50 > 0:05:51But, secretly, I like to think,
0:05:51 > 0:05:53Hogarth would have been very pleased.
0:05:53 > 0:05:57These dogs would have been pointed to on the mantelpiece -
0:05:57 > 0:06:02"Ah, I have a couple of Hogarth's dogs."
0:06:02 > 0:06:04The 1740s was his decade.
0:06:04 > 0:06:07He was at the height of his powers,
0:06:07 > 0:06:09the height of his popularity.
0:06:09 > 0:06:12And so to have Hogarth's dogs on the mantelpiece
0:06:12 > 0:06:16was really quite something. It was, er...
0:06:16 > 0:06:18a la mode.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20This model is particularly fine
0:06:20 > 0:06:22as it was taken from
0:06:22 > 0:06:24an original terracotta sculpture
0:06:24 > 0:06:27made by Louis Francois Roubiliac.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28He undertook a bust of his friend
0:06:28 > 0:06:30William Hogarth,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33and, interestingly, he obviously felt no portrait was complete,
0:06:33 > 0:06:39without also sculpting his faithful four-legged companion.
0:06:39 > 0:06:41And so the Chelsea factory made moulds.
0:06:41 > 0:06:46They made the mould of the model they were given,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48and they made a reverse mould. This is the reverse.
0:06:48 > 0:06:51So you could have a pair of Trumps on the mantelpiece.
0:06:51 > 0:06:53One facing one way
0:06:53 > 0:06:54and the other facing this way.
0:06:56 > 0:06:58And it is a little masterpiece.
0:06:58 > 0:07:00I mean, not for nothing Louis Francoise Roubiliac
0:07:00 > 0:07:04was considered to be, arguably, THE greatest sculptor of his age -
0:07:04 > 0:07:06not just of human beings,
0:07:06 > 0:07:09but, my goodness, of dogs.
0:07:09 > 0:07:14Anybody who likes dogs will immediately warm to this.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16Look at the detail -
0:07:16 > 0:07:18the muscles in the legs,
0:07:18 > 0:07:20the pads on the paws with the little claws.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23You could tousle the front of his mane.
0:07:23 > 0:07:26It's so fluffy!
0:07:26 > 0:07:28Then turning him around,
0:07:28 > 0:07:31the ridges of fat on the back.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33He's been well fed by his master.
0:07:33 > 0:07:37But best of all, it's the expression in the face.
0:07:39 > 0:07:42Those ears - now they tell a story.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44Those of you who have a dog know that
0:07:44 > 0:07:47when a stranger comes into the room,
0:07:47 > 0:07:48and the dog is wary,
0:07:48 > 0:07:50the dog will sit between you and the stranger,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52eyeing up the stranger -
0:07:52 > 0:07:56one ear will be listening to the stranger.
0:07:56 > 0:07:59Meanwhile, you're standing behind and the other ear is flipped back.
0:08:01 > 0:08:05And that is the moment Roubiliac has captured in this dog.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08And he doesn't look particularly happy, either, does he?
0:08:08 > 0:08:10It's a hugely fond depiction of an animal.
0:08:10 > 0:08:14But this object doesn't just tell us about a pivotal moment in porcelain
0:08:14 > 0:08:16or fine sculpture.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21It is a clear indication just how famous William Hogarth was
0:08:21 > 0:08:24and, more interestingly, how he had become synonymous
0:08:24 > 0:08:28in the public's mind with one particular breed of dog - the pug.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34But to understand the part it has played in Hogarth's story
0:08:34 > 0:08:38we must go back to his humble beginnings.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42Born in 1697, William Hogarth was not destined for fame and fortune.
0:08:43 > 0:08:46His father was a teacher
0:08:46 > 0:08:49whose ambitions of opening a Latin-speaking coffee house
0:08:49 > 0:08:51ended in debtors' prison.
0:08:51 > 0:08:54This cast a shadow over his life.
0:08:54 > 0:08:58He needed a trade and began as an apprentice silver engraver
0:08:58 > 0:09:01before graduating to copper-plate printing.
0:09:02 > 0:09:06He showed talent and opened his own shop engraving book illustrations,
0:09:06 > 0:09:09trade cards and occasional satires.
0:09:09 > 0:09:11But he wanted more.
0:09:11 > 0:09:15He wanted to be taken seriously as an artist
0:09:15 > 0:09:18and he enrolled in the academy of James Thornhill -
0:09:18 > 0:09:22a celebrated artist based in Covent Garden.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25Thornhill recognised Hogarth's potential.
0:09:31 > 0:09:35And how did William show his gratitude to his teacher Sir James?
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Well, he eloped with his daughter Jane.
0:09:39 > 0:09:42Not the greatest of moves - Hogarth was, after all,
0:09:42 > 0:09:45a man with doubtful prospects.
0:09:45 > 0:09:50And yet within in a few months we know that the young Hogarths
0:09:50 > 0:09:52were reconciled to the Thornhills.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55Here is a Thornhill sketch of the extended family -
0:09:55 > 0:09:57as depicted by Sir James.
0:09:57 > 0:10:01There are the newlyweds - the young Hogarths in the corner -
0:10:01 > 0:10:03the Thornhills standing and seated
0:10:03 > 0:10:05and just there...
0:10:06 > 0:10:08a little pug.
0:10:12 > 0:10:14This is the first appearance
0:10:14 > 0:10:19of the other great love of Hogarth's life - his pugs.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21But it would not be the last.
0:10:29 > 0:10:33The 1730s were a turning point in Hogarth's career.
0:10:33 > 0:10:36He married his two skills of engraving and painting
0:10:36 > 0:10:39and it would make his name and his fortune.
0:10:41 > 0:10:44He embarked on a series of paintings that were printed
0:10:44 > 0:10:48and sold to an eager audience - a revolutionary move
0:10:48 > 0:10:51that gave birth to the modern self-sufficient artist.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58From the corruption of a young woman in The Harlot's Progress,
0:10:58 > 0:11:01to the adventures of the Rake's Progress,
0:11:01 > 0:11:05and, of course, the happy couple in Marriage a La Mode.
0:11:05 > 0:11:08Hogarth's morality tales were instantly popular.
0:11:08 > 0:11:11They didn't just preach they entertained
0:11:11 > 0:11:16with bawdy scenes of wit, drama and humour.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20While many of his most arresting figures are frankly grotesques,
0:11:20 > 0:11:25there is one supporting role that is to be found time and time again.
0:11:28 > 0:11:31From his very earliest works, the prints, the paintings,
0:11:31 > 0:11:34and the prints of his paintings,
0:11:34 > 0:11:36William Hogarth takes a theme
0:11:36 > 0:11:39which other artists before him had used - the dog.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41But being William Hogarth,
0:11:41 > 0:11:44being the satirical man that he undoubtedly was,
0:11:44 > 0:11:47he likes to get the dog involved in the action.
0:11:47 > 0:11:55Now those dogs ranged from greyhounds to poodles, to spaniels.
0:11:56 > 0:11:59Now nothing is straightforward in Hogarth's images,
0:11:59 > 0:12:02something is always symbolic of something else.
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Whenever you see in one of Hogarth's images, a spaniel,
0:12:06 > 0:12:11the suggestion is maybe, just maybe, that the people in that portrait
0:12:11 > 0:12:14are supporters of the Stuart cause -
0:12:14 > 0:12:16the King Charles spaniel.
0:12:16 > 0:12:19Those who espoused the Hanoverians -
0:12:19 > 0:12:23after all, a Dutch dynasty, originally -
0:12:23 > 0:12:26they included the Dutch dog, the pug.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30But the pug is more important than that -
0:12:30 > 0:12:32he is a satirical little animal.
0:12:32 > 0:12:33He is comical looking,
0:12:33 > 0:12:35he's almost like a monkey,
0:12:35 > 0:12:38and in that respect, dare I say,
0:12:38 > 0:12:42that the pug resembles his owner.
0:12:42 > 0:12:45While it's easy to see why dogs serve so well
0:12:45 > 0:12:49as a useful comic device in his satirical work
0:12:49 > 0:12:51what is more surprising is that he can't resist
0:12:51 > 0:12:54including the playful disruptive little dog
0:12:54 > 0:12:56in his more formal commissions -
0:12:56 > 0:12:58or conversation pieces.
0:12:58 > 0:13:01Here a little puppy is playing in the foreground,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03somewhat upstaging the family!
0:13:04 > 0:13:08And it does feel that Hogarth is being subtly subversive,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12using the pug to prick the pomposity of these grand and formal scenes.
0:13:14 > 0:13:16In this painting of the Strode family
0:13:16 > 0:13:18he seems to have his very own pug Trump
0:13:18 > 0:13:21squaring up against the family spaniel.
0:13:21 > 0:13:24And we know it's Hogarth's pug, Trump, as he appears again
0:13:24 > 0:13:27in his most defining image -
0:13:27 > 0:13:32the so-called Manifesto portrait of 1745.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41People call this Hogarth's self-portrait.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43It's not a self-portrait.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45Look at it.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48Yes, there is a picture of Hogarth within this painting
0:13:48 > 0:13:50but that picture is on a canvas.
0:13:50 > 0:13:52And it's in front of that canvas
0:13:52 > 0:13:55we see the true subject of this painting is his pug.
0:13:55 > 0:13:57His alter ego.
0:13:57 > 0:14:01Now I understand more than anything the love of a man for his dog,
0:14:01 > 0:14:04but there seems something quite unique
0:14:04 > 0:14:06about this particular breed.
0:14:06 > 0:14:09While you'll have no doubt noticed that Hogarth's pug
0:14:09 > 0:14:11is very different from the one you may know...
0:14:14 > 0:14:18..which is stouter, shorter, with a flattened muzzle.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21What hasn't changed is their expressive nature
0:14:21 > 0:14:25and their ability to capture the public's imagination.
0:14:25 > 0:14:29And just like the Chelsea factory centuries ago,
0:14:29 > 0:14:32one company has realised their marketing potential.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43What is it about pugs that so many people are attracted to them?
0:14:43 > 0:14:47I think it's because they have human-like faces.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51They have big eyes, little noses.
0:14:51 > 0:14:55They like to be happy, they're quite dizzy. They're happy little dogs.
0:14:55 > 0:14:58You may have Labradors and you may have Spaniels
0:14:58 > 0:15:01but you won't have a dog that has a face like that,
0:15:01 > 0:15:04that basically is telling you exactly how he feels.
0:15:04 > 0:15:07So, it started as love and it turned into business?
0:15:07 > 0:15:10It started as love, then it became an obsession.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13And then it became business.
0:15:13 > 0:15:16Cos they've got this kind of chubbiness about them,
0:15:16 > 0:15:19they're kind of angel-like, you know what I mean?
0:15:19 > 0:15:22And I thought, "If I could make really ornate wings
0:15:22 > 0:15:27"then I could make a really lovely piece in the living room."
0:15:27 > 0:15:30And then I thought, "Right, cushions."
0:15:30 > 0:15:34Then from there I did Christmas lights, soaps...
0:15:34 > 0:15:38What I really liked about it and where I thought I had something
0:15:38 > 0:15:40that could work was people laughed.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43Everything I do has to have... It has to be tongue-in-cheek.
0:15:43 > 0:15:45- They are humorous.- Yes.
0:15:45 > 0:15:50I've often been baffled by the fact that Hogarth's very early images,
0:15:50 > 0:15:53conversation groups with families, people who'd come to him and said,
0:15:53 > 0:15:56"Mr Hogarth will you come along and paint our family portrait, please?"
0:15:56 > 0:16:00Along he goes with is pet pug
0:16:00 > 0:16:02and hey presto
0:16:02 > 0:16:04Hogarth's pug appears.
0:16:04 > 0:16:10I would imagine that he brought his pug along to a painting to break down
0:16:10 > 0:16:13any atmosphere there is. He would have known how to make that
0:16:13 > 0:16:15relationship with the person he's painting.
0:16:15 > 0:16:18You've absolutely put your finger on it.
0:16:18 > 0:16:21They just break down the social divide and you know what...
0:16:21 > 0:16:24I mean, London is a city that is known not to be friendly
0:16:24 > 0:16:27but you walk out with a pug and you've suddenly got
0:16:27 > 0:16:30the whole world talking to you and it's fabulous.
0:16:35 > 0:16:40But clearly to Hogarth his pugs were more than a faithful companion.
0:16:40 > 0:16:43He identified with the plucky breed.
0:16:43 > 0:16:46He was diminutive, determined, pugnacious,
0:16:46 > 0:16:50driven by a desire not end up like his penniless father.
0:16:50 > 0:16:53In fact, the pug provides an unexpected clue
0:16:53 > 0:16:57as to one of the ways in which he secured his future.
0:17:00 > 0:17:04Just around the corner from Hogarth's home in Covent Garden
0:17:04 > 0:17:08are the headquarters of a secret organisation.
0:17:10 > 0:17:14Welcome to Freemasons Hall,
0:17:14 > 0:17:17home to a fascinating array of unusual objects.
0:17:17 > 0:17:21But I've come to look at one cabinet in particular which houses
0:17:21 > 0:17:24a collection of Meissen porcelain
0:17:24 > 0:17:27with it's characteristic flinty sparkle.
0:17:27 > 0:17:32What you may begin to notice is each one features a little pug.
0:17:32 > 0:17:36Well, all expect this one, where the poor dog has been snapped off.
0:17:36 > 0:17:38But he has left his calling card.
0:17:41 > 0:17:45Now, you may be wondering what pugs have got to do with the Masons?
0:17:46 > 0:17:51Well, in the 1730s the Pope told the Germans that he didn't like the idea
0:17:51 > 0:17:54of anybody swearing an oath of allegiance to anybody
0:17:54 > 0:17:57other than the Catholic Church.
0:17:57 > 0:18:00So, they were not permitted to become Freemasons.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04And so they founded the Order of Pugs.
0:18:04 > 0:18:09As it was known in Germany, the Mops-Orden.
0:18:09 > 0:18:14This was a society where men and women could partake.
0:18:14 > 0:18:18And almost as a send up of true Masonic ritual,
0:18:18 > 0:18:23the Order of the Mopses decided that the initiation would involve
0:18:23 > 0:18:27the blindfolded candidate
0:18:27 > 0:18:32being presented with the rear end of a pug and you had to...
0:18:35 > 0:18:37..kiss the ring, I suppose.
0:18:41 > 0:18:43But we shouldn't get too carried away.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46People say whenever there's a pug in Hogarth,
0:18:46 > 0:18:48"Ah, that's because he was a Freemason."
0:18:48 > 0:18:50Well, actually he was a Freemason
0:18:50 > 0:18:54but he started using the pug in the late 1720s when Freemasonry
0:18:54 > 0:18:56in London was relatively new
0:18:56 > 0:19:00and certainly long before the German Mops-Orden.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Nevertheless it was the perfect place for Hogarth to rub shoulders
0:19:03 > 0:19:07with the rich and powerful behind closed doors
0:19:07 > 0:19:10and to charm wealthy potential patrons.
0:19:10 > 0:19:14In fact, Hogarth even took it upon himself to redesign
0:19:14 > 0:19:17a ceremonial jewel for his lodge,
0:19:17 > 0:19:21seen here adorning the neck of the Grand Steward Colonel John Pitt.
0:19:25 > 0:19:29When Hogarth joined the Freemasons
0:19:29 > 0:19:33it was because he had a sense that it would do him good.
0:19:33 > 0:19:37At the same time, he was perfectly happy to send up
0:19:37 > 0:19:41the alleged mysticism of the group he joined,
0:19:41 > 0:19:43as he does in that print of the Gormogons.
0:19:43 > 0:19:46Despite Hogarth's ambition, it's amusing to see
0:19:46 > 0:19:48he still can't help giving in
0:19:48 > 0:19:52to his natural instinct for barefaced cheek.
0:19:52 > 0:19:56Hogarth had an eye for the absurd
0:19:56 > 0:19:58and a nose for business.
0:20:01 > 0:20:06Hogarth was a canny self-promoter, a one-man marketing machine.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09He attached himself to good causes and charities
0:20:09 > 0:20:13but the one closest to his heart was the Foundling Hospital.
0:20:13 > 0:20:15An institution for abandoned children,
0:20:15 > 0:20:18it became England's first public art gallery.
0:20:18 > 0:20:22And this is Hogarth's portrait of its founder, Thomas Coram,
0:20:22 > 0:20:28immensely accomplished. No sign of a pug. Hogarth had arrived.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36He was at last what he had hoped to be -
0:20:36 > 0:20:37an eminent and respected artist.
0:20:40 > 0:20:44In 1749, now in his 6th decade,
0:20:44 > 0:20:47Hogarth could relax and enjoy the fruits of his labour,
0:20:47 > 0:20:51and he bought a country retreat, here in Chiswick.
0:20:51 > 0:20:54On what is today the rather busy A4,
0:20:54 > 0:20:58but in those days was a very pleasant bucolic part
0:20:58 > 0:21:01of the peripheries of London.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04And it was here that he decided
0:21:04 > 0:21:09that he was going to fulfil a long held ambition.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12It was almost as if his father from the school master days
0:21:12 > 0:21:15took over his ego.
0:21:15 > 0:21:18He decided that he was now in a position to tell other people
0:21:18 > 0:21:21what art was all about.
0:21:21 > 0:21:26He entered into art theory and he gave us a clue
0:21:26 > 0:21:30in that 1745 portrait that this was in his mind.
0:21:30 > 0:21:35Here he is, the portrait with his beloved Trump.
0:21:35 > 0:21:40But look down in the corner here and you'll see that the pallet,
0:21:40 > 0:21:44there is this strange curved line and the inscription
0:21:44 > 0:21:46"The line of beauty WH."
0:21:48 > 0:21:52He put that into the portrait in order to get people talking.
0:21:52 > 0:21:58And for the next five/six years he busied himself with the project
0:21:58 > 0:22:01that culminated in this -
0:22:01 > 0:22:04his 1753 book called
0:22:04 > 0:22:09The Analysis Of Beauty. A rather immodest title.
0:22:09 > 0:22:12And the line that we saw just now...
0:22:14 > 0:22:19..reappears here in this extraordinary print.
0:22:19 > 0:22:24Because Hogarth had one big theory.
0:22:24 > 0:22:29And that was that beauty came from variety.
0:22:29 > 0:22:32And it came from curved lines, not straight.
0:22:32 > 0:22:39His basic premise is that beautiful things have an inner undulation,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42a variety, a sense of grace.
0:22:42 > 0:22:45You will note that here we have a vision of a sculptor's yard
0:22:45 > 0:22:47in the centre of London.
0:22:47 > 0:22:51Here the gentleman standing to attention, looking rather comical,
0:22:51 > 0:22:55whereas next to him, a rather graceful, classical statue.
0:22:55 > 0:22:58Throughout all of this, Hogarth is saying,
0:22:58 > 0:23:01"If you're looking for beauty, if you're looking for grace,
0:23:01 > 0:23:06"you'll find it in the curved line." So, this was a major treatise.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10And, well, he was now a member of the establishment.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14And the moment Hogarth went into print with theory,
0:23:14 > 0:23:20something that was really rather beyond a man of such humble origins,
0:23:20 > 0:23:23people felt, "Ah, we can get at him."
0:23:23 > 0:23:27One of the many people who attacked him was a man called Paul Sandby,
0:23:27 > 0:23:29himself an artist.
0:23:29 > 0:23:32In this etching Sandby caricatures Hogarth painting monstrously
0:23:32 > 0:23:36deformed women in order to conform to his "Line of Beauty"
0:23:36 > 0:23:40or "Line of Deformity" as the critics referred to it.
0:23:40 > 0:23:43And even using his beloved alter-ego against him
0:23:43 > 0:23:45giving Hogarth the legs of a pug.
0:23:47 > 0:23:51But Hogarth's characteristic puggish resilience saw him shrug off
0:23:51 > 0:23:55such criticism and it did little to affect his standing
0:23:55 > 0:23:57and reputation where it counted.
0:23:57 > 0:24:02In 1757, the humble engraver found himself appointed
0:24:02 > 0:24:06Sergeant Painter to the king no less, a position that prompted him
0:24:06 > 0:24:09to embark on what would be his final self-portrait.
0:24:09 > 0:24:12Dubbed Hogarth Painting The Comic Muse,
0:24:12 > 0:24:17in fact, we find him much the sober, serious artist and yet
0:24:17 > 0:24:20there is in fact a secret that reveals that Hogarth
0:24:20 > 0:24:23was as cheeky and irreverent as ever.
0:24:25 > 0:24:30When curator's were looking at this portrait for a new catalogue
0:24:30 > 0:24:35of our works, they realised that there had been some alterations,
0:24:35 > 0:24:39and they sent it for X-ray,
0:24:39 > 0:24:44and rather to their surprise the X-rays revealed that the alterations
0:24:44 > 0:24:47had actually been rather substantial.
0:24:47 > 0:24:51Instead of the muse of comedy on the canvas,
0:24:51 > 0:24:54Hogarth is painting a life model,
0:24:54 > 0:24:57and in this corner, my favourite touch,
0:24:57 > 0:25:00there is a little pug who is leaping over a pile of canvases
0:25:00 > 0:25:02and peeing on them.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06- In the corner? - In the corner.
0:25:06 > 0:25:09Sadly, no trace of this remains.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11It's a theme that goes all the way through his work.
0:25:11 > 0:25:13What do you make of that?
0:25:13 > 0:25:17Well, I think the pug symbolises lots of different things to him.
0:25:17 > 0:25:21I mean, on the one hand there's a sort of pun on pugnaciousness,
0:25:21 > 0:25:25which is a recurrent theme in Hogarth's career.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29On the other hand, the sort of pugs that Hogarth has
0:25:29 > 0:25:35are listed as being a kind of mongrel in British breeds of dogs
0:25:35 > 0:25:40and I think Hogarth rather celebrates the fact that this is an animal
0:25:40 > 0:25:45that is seen as a bit down the social sphere perhaps, not, you know,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48one of these fine thoroughbred dogs,
0:25:48 > 0:25:52but instead has this dogged determination.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55And I think that is something which he really sees in himself,
0:25:55 > 0:25:59erm, not coming from the sort of aristocratic background.
0:26:00 > 0:26:03And why did he erase his pug?
0:26:03 > 0:26:08Well, I think it reflects a slight change in his status, perhaps,
0:26:08 > 0:26:12as he's made Sergeant Painter to the king,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15and a desire perhaps to make a less provocative statement.
0:26:15 > 0:26:22For me, it almost suggests that by originally putting his own pug
0:26:22 > 0:26:25in here and over painting it,
0:26:25 > 0:26:28it's almost like a concealed joke, isn't it?
0:26:28 > 0:26:32He knows when he looks at this painting, that in there -
0:26:32 > 0:26:36we can't see it - but there is a pug.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39As you may remember, I began this story
0:26:39 > 0:26:42with the search for a lost pug and here I've found one.
0:26:42 > 0:26:47However, this is not the pug that I need your help to track down.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50For the real mystery I must remind you of that glorious little
0:26:50 > 0:26:53porcelain dog in the V&A.
0:26:53 > 0:26:58This was based upon an original terracotta sculpture by Roubiliac,
0:26:58 > 0:27:03a wonderful and witty accompaniment to his masterful bust of Hogarth.
0:27:03 > 0:27:07The bust can be found today in its rightful place
0:27:07 > 0:27:10in the National Portrait Gallery.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13It is a spectacular work of art.
0:27:13 > 0:27:16It breathes.
0:27:16 > 0:27:18We see Hogarth thinking.
0:27:18 > 0:27:22Something has caught his gaze over on the right
0:27:22 > 0:27:27and that pugnacious jaw is already scanning it.
0:27:27 > 0:27:32But wait. Where, where is the missing dog?
0:27:32 > 0:27:36The original little terracotta pottery model from which
0:27:36 > 0:27:39Chelsea made those spectacular porcelain models?
0:27:41 > 0:27:45Well, this is my final appeal to you.
0:27:45 > 0:27:49It's my hope that in my lifetime I will see Hogarth's missing dog
0:27:49 > 0:27:51returned to him.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55Are you the one who, at the back of your cupboard or in the attic,
0:27:55 > 0:28:02may have a terracotta model, same colour as Hogarth here, lurking?
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Perhaps it's chipped, doesn't matter.
0:28:04 > 0:28:10Because we want to see him returned at heel to his rightful master.
0:28:10 > 0:28:16And I can tell you that the reward ought to be more than half a guinea.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26If you do have any leads to a forlorn little chap -
0:28:26 > 0:28:31the mirror image of this one - in terracotta, please do get in touch.