Der Maler und sein Mops (Selbstbildnis)

Hogarth put himself into this picture twice over. There is the painted oval of his own face, propped up on volumes of Shakespeare, Milton and Swift, the English writers he wanted to be measured against, and then there is the pug at the front, a stocky dog named Trump whose blunt, combative look Hogarth clearly meant as a portrait of his own pugnacious temper. On the palette in the corner he drew a single serpentine curve and labeled it the Line of Beauty, the flowing S-shape he was convinced lay behind all grace in art and nature. He had begun the self-portrait years earlier in formal dress, then reworked it, showing himself instead in a plain cap and an informal coat.