Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn (1738): Art, History and Details

Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn (1738) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is William Hogarth (British, 1697–1764).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Known for his satire, William Hogarth considered this print a protest of British prime minister Robert Walpole’s Licensing Act of 1737, which gave the government power to heavily censor theatrical productions. A reference to the act appears on a large crown in the left foreground, near a playbill. Still, Hogarth poked fun at the somewhat indulgent lifestyle of players by juxtaposing the actresses’ challenging reality with the stage sets and costumes that portray lofty classical deities and the heavens. The shabby and chaotic backstage is made more so by the hefty consumption of wine and other alcoholic beverages, even among younger people.

Object facts

• Title: Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn
• Date: 1738
• Creator attribution: William Hogarth (British, 1697–1764)
• Culture: England, 18th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: engraving
• Dimensions: Platemark: 45 x 56.5 cm (17 11/16 x 22 1/4 in.); Sheet: 48.8 x 62.6 cm (19 3/16 x 24 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.310

A detail from the museum

The playful irreverence of this backstage scene is underscored by the kittens in the foreground, one of whom plays with a globus cruciger, or cross-bearing orb, recognized as a symbol of authority throughout the Christian world.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Curtiss Rose

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.