William Hogarth, Charles Mosley, O the Roast Beef of Old England ('The Gate of Calais') 1749
Display caption
This was an expensive print at five shillings, elements of which were later used in the Napoleonic wars for army recruitment posters. Much of this influential image ridicules Catholicism. The fisherwomen wearing crucifixes on the left seem to pray to the cheap flat fish in front of them. In the background, through the gate, 'superstitious' locals are kneeling before the Cross, beneath a tavern sign of a dove, symbol of the Holy Ghost, in Hogarth's mockery of the Eucharist. More earthly nourishment, however, comes in the form of the unattainable sirloin of British beef… (read more)
August 2004
Other works of art you may be interested in
Find similar artworks
Artist
William Hogarth
(46)
Charles Mosley
(1)
Category
On paper, print
(15,817)
Decade
1740-9
(70)
Style or ‘-ism’
18th century
(462)
Modern Moral Subject
(14)
Subject
architecture
(30,435)
features
(7,253)
arch
(850)
drawbridge
(3)
townscapes, man-made features
(18,966)
history
(1,779)
leisure and pastimes
(3,120)
eating and drinking
(348)
eating
(117)
nature
(37,449)
animals: birds
(1,010)
crow
(16)
animals: fish and aquatic life
(243)
fish
(140)
objects
(12,243)
food and drink
(539)
meat
(31)
weapons
(813)
bayonet
(8)
gun, rifle
(197)
people
(21,186)
actions: postures and motions
(6,764)
actions: processes and functions
(1,271)
diseases and conditions
(627)
emaciation
(16)
obesity
(30)
self-portraits
(601)
Hogarth, William
(4)
places
(23,428)
cities, towns, villages (non-UK)
(9,203)
countries and continents
(12,032)
France
(2,429)
society
(14,246)
crime and punishment
(319)
arrest
(30)
fashion, dress: nations/regions
(217)
Scotland
(66)
government and politics
(375)
patriotism
(22)
health and welfare
(133)
poverty
(47)
nationality
(351)
social comment
(1,563)
satire
(165)
work and occupations
(5,206)
arts and entertainment
(1,300)
artist, painter
(338)
religious
(283)
friar / monk
(76)
trading and commercial
(419)