Theological

THE POOL OF BETHESDA.
Engraved from the Original Picture Painted by William Hogarth Esq.^r
On the  Stair Case in S.t Bartholomew's Hospital.
VOL II N.o 57. | St. John Cap: V. 
Size of the picture, 13^F. 8^I. by 20^F. 3^I in length.
Published Feb.y 24.th 1772 by John Boydell Engraver, in Cheapside London. 
William Hogarth pinxint. | Ravenet & Picot sculpserunt.

William Hogarth (1697-1764), apprenticed as an engraver, became the most signifiant artist and printmaker of his time, his satirical caricatures and political cartoons establishing the genre. From 1730 Hogarth established his own business publishing and selling his own prints. After his death his plates passed to his wife Jane who continued issuing his prints until her own death in 1789. The plates were then acquired by publisher John Boydell and sold again, at the Boydell bankruptcy sale in 1818 to Baldwin & Cradock who began selling prints from 1820. Noted engraver James Heath was employed to strengthen some of the engraved lines and this final issue of 1822 is the last to use Hogarth's original engraved plates. 

Upper plate edge trimmed at paper edge and remargined in matching paper. Water stain upper right corner.