The Beggar's Opera, Act III (1790)
Original title: The Beggar's Opera, Act III
kurzbeschreibung
William Blake's 1790 engraving Die Bettleroper, dritter Akt reproduces a scene from John Gay's opera of the same name. The upright copperplate (plate: 46 x 58.4 cm) gathers several figures in historical dress inside a prison room.
Description
Stone walls and barred windows give the room the look of a jail or a courtroom. At the front a man in shirt and breeches gestures with raised hands; beside him a woman in a long gown kneels. To the right stands another man in a dark coat. Overhead, a banner reading "Vellus in Secundum" and a coat of arms catch the eye. Light falling from above picks out the faces and garments of the figures.
Context
Made in 1790 as a reproduction of a painting by William Hogarth, the sheet presents the famous opera scene from John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728). Blake engraved it on commission for a publication meant to bring Hogarth's work to a wider public. The opera itself was a sharp comment on corruption and social ills in eighteenth-century London.
Impact
The crowded arrangement and precise shading create a dramatic, almost theatrical mood. The speaking man's gesture at the centre and the kneeling woman give the picture an emotional tension that speaks directly to the viewer.
Technique
For this copperplate engraving the lines were cut into a copper plate and then printed. The method allows fine, sharp contours and detailed shading of the kind characteristic of eighteenth-century English printmaking. The print was pulled on paper measuring 18 3/4 x 23 inches.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)