Joseph Hogarth (1801-1879) was a leading British fine art print publisher, print seller, frame maker and art restorer. He operated from various locations in central London in the middle decades of the nineteenth century. He was working in the field by 1826 and the business continued to operate till 1890, by which time it was under the direction of his two sons.
Early life
Joseph Hogarth is believed to have been the son of Joseph and Ann Hogarth. He was born in London and christened at St Pancras Old Church in 1801.
He was living at 30 Denton St, Somers Town, London, by 1826, at which time he was described as a “print colourer and mounter.” He married Ellen Taylor in 1827 at St Luke's, Finsbury. The couple had at least four children. Residential directories indicate the couple lived at 11 Somers Town Terrace from 1828 till 1832 by which time he was described as a “print colourer, artist and stationer.”
When his daughter Anne was christened in 1834 he was operating from 60 Great Portland Street as a printseller. Occupational directories describe him as a “mounter and inlayer of prints and drawings” by 1839. He described himself as a 39-year-old “print mounter” in the 1841 census. The 1851 census notes that he and his family were living above their gallery in the Haymarket. It was located just a few doors away from the Haymarket Theatre. The business is known to have operated, as Joseph Hogarth, or, Joseph Hogarth & Sons, from the following locations in London.
New Road, opposite St Pancras Church (1832) 60 Great Portland Street (1835-1845) 5 Haymarket, London (1845-1866) 96 Mount Street, Grovesnor Square (1866-1886) 473 Oxford Street (1887-1890)
The 1861 census reveals the business was still operating from a gallery at 5 Haymarket in the centre of London. It had twelve employees, including Hogarth's two daughters and his son, George. His transition from a print colourer and framer to a publisher and seller of quality high-art prints was facilitated by his business partnership with the London merchant Elhanan Bicknell.
Elhanan Bicknell
Elhanan Bicknell (1788-1861) was a successful London businessman and patron of the arts. He began to collect contemporary British art in 1828, often buying direct from the artists rather than from galleries. He would have needed the services of someone to mount and frame his paintings and drawings and this probably brought him into contact with Hogarth. Bicknell was a silent partner in a number of promising commercial enterprises, only becoming directly involved in order to resolve some pressing financial or legal issue. This pattern seems to have been repeated in his association with Hogarth. The partnership began about 1832 and continued till August 1854 when it was formally dissolved.
One of the first fruits of this association was, The works of William Hogarth; in a series of one hundred and fifty steel engravings, by the first artists, with descriptions and a comment on their moral tendency, Vol.1, a 64-page volume published by Joseph Hogarth and others in 1833. It is unclear if there is a family connection between Joseph Hogarth and the artist William Hogarth.
There is little doubt that Bicknell's financial backing allowed Hogarth to move from colouring and framing prints to the more capital intensive business of commissioning and publishing high-quality engraving and lithographic prints which he then sold in his gallery. The two men also seem to have been friends as Hogarth named one his sons George Bicknell Hogarth.
As well as buying original art works, Bicknell encouraged artists he favoured by funding prints of their works. One notable example is J. M. W. Turner's painting, The Fighting Temeraine (1838) which Bicknell paid to have engraved and printed.<ref>Shapiro, H.I., (1972), Ruskin in Italy, p.248</ref>
High-art reproductions
A billhead for the business indicates Hogarth was regularly publishing reproductions of paintings and drawings by 1848. Royal patronage could enhance a firms status and an 1864 letterhead says Hogarth was print-seller and picture-frame maker to the Prince of Wales. As well as selling framed high-art prints to aristocrats and the wealthy, many others visited his gallery. Among these was Charles Dickens and Florence Nightingale.