Sarah Malcolm

1 portrait

© National Portrait Gallery, London

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Sarah Malcolm

after William Hogarth
mezzotint, (1733)
7 3/4 in. x 7 1/8 in. (196 mm x 181 mm) plate size; 8 in. x 7 3/8 in. (204 mm x 188 mm) paper size
Purchased with help from the Friends of the National Libraries and the Pilgrim Trust, 1966
Reference Collection
NPG D38165

Sitterback to top

  • Sarah Malcolm (circa 1710-1733), Murderer. Sitter in 2 portraits.

Artistback to top

  • William Hogarth (1697-1764), Painter and engraver. Artist or producer associated with 128 portraits, Sitter associated with 19 portraits.

This portraitback to top

In the eighteenth century no artist went after street stories like Hogarth. He understood the public appetite for a great villain. In 1733, he depicted the twenty-two year old convict Sarah Malcolm, in Newgate Prison, just
days before her execution for murder. By pricing the print at sixpence, it was devoured by an eager public curious to put a face to the name of this infamous killer.

Linked publicationsback to top

  • Schama, Simon, The Face of Britain: The Nation Through its Portraits, 2015-09-15, p. 473

Placesback to top

Linked displays and exhibitionsback to top

Subject/Themeback to top

Events of 1733back to top

Current affairs

Prime Minister Robert Walpole narrowly escapes defeat in the House of Lords over the investigation into the South Sea affair. His Excise scheme, introduced the previous year, also provokes widespread resistance among merchants and is withdrawn.
Sugar and Molasses Act is passed by Parliament to tax British colonists in North America.



Art and science

John Kay, working in the Lancashire woollen industry, patents the flying shuttle to speed up weaving.
Poet Alexander Pope publishes his philosophical Essay on Man, which proposes a system of ethics in poetic form.
Clergyman Stephen Hales publishes the second volume of his Statical Essays, Haemastaticks, describing the measurement of the 'force of the blood', later known as blood pressure.

International

Philip V of Spain and Louis XV of France sign the Treaty of Escurial and form an alliance against Britain.
Voltaire publishes Letters on the English Nation comparing France unfavourably with England.
British colonist James Oglethorpe founds Savannah, Georgia.

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