1747
ink
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
The Fellow 'Prentices at Their Looms is a 1747 ink by William Hogarth, a Baroque work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This black-and-white print shows two young men weaving at looms in a cramped room. One sits hard at work, his posture tense, while the other lounges with a book and a pipe, looking bored. Around them, tools and half-finished cloth litter the floor and shelves. A spinning wheel and a loom fill the space, with scraps of fabric and oddly shaped tools leaning against the walls. Notice the tiny signs they hold—one reads *"Diligence"* and the other *"Idleness"*—hinting at a moral lesson about work. The artist packed the scene with details to show the difference between effort and laziness. Check out etching to see how artists like Hogarth carved fine lines into metal plates to create prints like this.
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, satirist, cartoonist and writer.
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