Noon, 1738

William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)

RA Collection: Art

The second plate of William Hogarth's set of four Times of Day, published in 1738 and derived from paintings made by Hogarth in 1736-7 (reversing the images in the process). The painting of Morning is in a private collection.

Each of the four scenes depicts a different area of London. Noon shows elegantly-dressed French Huguenots leaving the French Chapel in Hog Lane, Soho. They contrast with the figures on the left, who include black servant fondling the breasts of a cook-maid, a ragged boy crying because he has broken his plate, a gypsy girl eating food off of the ground, and a woman throwing food out of an upstairs window. The two halves of the scene can be interpreted as representing the difference between English and French culture.