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The Shrimp Girl
William Hogarth · Rococo & Neoclassicism
- Artist
- William Hogarth (1697–1764)
- Date
- c. 1740–1745
- Dimensions
- 63.5 x 52.5 cm
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Location
- National Gallery, London, United Kingdom
The Shrimp Girl shows a young London street seller with a large, flat basket of shrimps and mussels balanced on her head. She turns her cheerful, glowing face towards someone outside the picture, her lips parted as if she is about to speak or call out her wares.
A closer look
The painting is an oil sketch, done very rapidly with broad, free strokes of the brush, leaving much of the canvas loosely brushed and unfinished. Unlike Hogarth's satirical scenes that expose the vices of London society, this is a warm, spontaneous portrait of an ordinary working woman, full of life and energy. The pinks and silvery greys capture the freshness of her face and the shine of the shellfish. Few works of the time are so direct; it feels closer to the free brushwork of Fragonard or even the Impressionists.
More by William Hogarth
In this gallery
Famous works elsewhere
- The Graham Children 1742