Five Orders of Periwigs
Encyclopedia
The Five Orders of Periwigs (The Five Orders of Perriwigs as they were Worn at the Late Coronation Measured Architectonically) is a 1761 engraving by William Hogarth
. It contains several levels of satire
. First, and most clearly, it lampoon
s the fashion for outlandish wig
s in the mid to late 18th century. Second, in classifying the wigs into "orders", it satirises the formulation of canons of beauty from the analysis of surviving pieces of classical architecture
and sculpture
from ancient Greece
and ancient Rome
, particularly the precise drawings of James "Athenian" Stuart
in his 1761 book Antiquities of Athens. To the lower right, the engraving gives its publication date as 15 October 1761.
Of the engraving, Hogarth himself commented in his book of anecdotes:
As a parallel to the five orders
of classical architecture
identified by Palladio (Doric
, Ionic
, Corinthian
, Composite
and Tuscan
), the engraving postulates five "orders" of periwig, from the relatively simple "Episcopal" (for the clergy), through the "Old Peerian or Aldermanic" (for lords and council officials) and "Lexonic" (for lawyers) to the more ornate "Composite or Half Natural", and finally the effete "Queerinthian or Queue
de Reynard
" (a pun on the French for "foxtail").
A scale shows the "Athenian Measure" by which the dimensions of each wig are annotated, with one "nodule" comprising 3 "nasos" (noses) and each "naso" of 3 "minutes". The component parts of each wig are labelled with letters A to I, each denoting a mock architectural terms, from A: the "Corona or Lermier or Foretop" and B: the "Architrave or Archivolt or Caul" to H: "Fillet or Ribbon" and I: "Helices or Volute or Spiral or Curl".
Several of the faces depicted have been identified. Those in the Episcopal line are intended to resemble Doctor William Warburton
, Bishop of Gloucester
(left) and Doctor Samuel Squire
, Bishop of St David's
(right). In the "Old Peerian or Aldermanic" row are Lord Melcombe
(left) and another. The wig depicted to the far right is a "remarkable winged periwig" worn by Sir Samuel Fludyer, 1st Baronet
when he became Lord Mayor of London
earlier in 1761.
At the bottom of the engraving is an inscription stating that a series of six folio volumes published over 17 years will set out the measurements of the periwigs of the ancients. This satirises Stuart's Antiquities of Athens. Above, a line of female profiles shows, from left to right, the face of Queen Charlotte and five others, each wearing a triple necklace and bearing a coronet
: a duchess, a marchioness
, a countess, a viscountess, and a baroness
. They have been alternatively identified as the Ladies of the Bedchamber in 1761 - the Duchess of Ancaster, Duchess of Hamilton, Countess of Effingham, Countess of Northumberland
, Viscountess Weymouth, and Viscountess Bolingbroke.
Hogarth created the engraving a few weeks after the coronation
of George III and Queen Charlotte, inspired by the elaborate costume worn by those who attended. Horace Walpole wrote: "Some of the peeresses were dressed over night, slept in armchairs, and were waked if they tumbled their heads".
A number of spelling mistakes were noted in the first state of the engraving ("", ""). A second state of the engraving corrects a typographical error by inserting the letter "e" in "", and relabels the "Episcopal" order of periwigs as "Episcopal and Parsonic".
William Hogarth
William Hogarth was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic and editorial cartoonist who has been credited with pioneering western sequential art. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects"...
. It contains several levels of satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
. First, and most clearly, it lampoon
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
s the fashion for outlandish wig
Wig
A wig is a head of hair made from horsehair, human hair, wool, feathers, yak hair, buffalo hair, or synthetic materials which is worn on the head for fashion or various other aesthetic and stylistic reasons, including cultural and religious observance. The word wig is short for periwig and first...
s in the mid to late 18th century. Second, in classifying the wigs into "orders", it satirises the formulation of canons of beauty from the analysis of surviving pieces of classical architecture
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
and sculpture
Classical sculpture
Classical sculpture refers to the forms of sculpture from Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome, as well as the Hellenized and Romanized civilizations under their rule or influence from about 500 BC to fall of Rome in AD 476. It also refers stylistically to modern sculptures done in a classical style....
from ancient Greece
Ancient Greece
Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...
and ancient Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
, particularly the precise drawings of James "Athenian" Stuart
James Stuart (1713-1788)
James "Athenian" Stuart was an English archaeologist, architect and artist best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism.-Early life:...
in his 1761 book Antiquities of Athens. To the lower right, the engraving gives its publication date as 15 October 1761.
Of the engraving, Hogarth himself commented in his book of anecdotes:
- There is no great difficulty in measuring the length, breadth, or height of any figures, where the parts are made up of plain lines. It requires no more skill to take the dimensions of a pillar or cornice, than to measure a square box, and yet the man who does the latter is neglected, and he who accomplishes the former, is considered as a miracle of genius; but I suppose he receives his honours for the distance he has travelled to do his business.
As a parallel to the five orders
Classical order
A classical order is one of the ancient styles of classical architecture, each distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and most readily recognizable by the type of column employed. Three ancient orders of architecture—the Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian—originated in...
of classical architecture
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
identified by Palladio (Doric
Doric order
The Doric order was one of the three orders or organizational systems of ancient Greek or classical architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian.-History:...
, Ionic
Ionic order
The Ionic order forms one of the three orders or organizational systems of classical architecture, the other two canonic orders being the Doric and the Corinthian...
, Corinthian
Corinthian order
The Corinthian order is one of the three principal classical orders of ancient Greek and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric and Ionic. When classical architecture was revived during the Renaissance, two more orders were added to the canon, the Tuscan order and the Composite order...
, Composite
Composite order
The composite order is a mixed order, combining the volutes of the Ionic order capital with the acanthus leaves of the Corinthian order. The composite order volutes are larger, however, and the composite order also has echinus molding with egg-and-dart ornamentation between the volutes...
and Tuscan
Tuscan order
Among canon of classical orders of classical architecture, the Tuscan order's place is due to the influence of the Italian Sebastiano Serlio, who meticulously described the five orders including a "Tuscan order", "the solidest and least ornate", in his fourth book of Regole generalii di...
), the engraving postulates five "orders" of periwig, from the relatively simple "Episcopal" (for the clergy), through the "Old Peerian or Aldermanic" (for lords and council officials) and "Lexonic" (for lawyers) to the more ornate "Composite or Half Natural", and finally the effete "Queerinthian or Queue
Queue (hairstyle)
The queue or cue is a hairstyle in which the hair is worn long and gathered up into a ponytail. It was worn traditionally by certain Native American groups and the Manchu of Manchuria.-Manchu Queue:...
de Reynard
Reynard
Reynard is the subject of a literary cycle of allegorical French, Dutch, English, and German fables largely concerned with Reynard, an anthropomorphic red fox and trickster figure.-Etymology of the name:Theories about the origin of the name Reynard are:...
" (a pun on the French for "foxtail").
A scale shows the "Athenian Measure" by which the dimensions of each wig are annotated, with one "nodule" comprising 3 "nasos" (noses) and each "naso" of 3 "minutes". The component parts of each wig are labelled with letters A to I, each denoting a mock architectural terms, from A: the "Corona or Lermier or Foretop" and B: the "Architrave or Archivolt or Caul" to H: "Fillet or Ribbon" and I: "Helices or Volute or Spiral or Curl".
Several of the faces depicted have been identified. Those in the Episcopal line are intended to resemble Doctor William Warburton
William Warburton
William Warburton was an English critic and churchman, Bishop of Gloucester from 1759.-Life:He was born at Newark, where his father, who belonged to an old Cheshire family, was town clerk. William was educated at Oakham and Newark grammar schools, and in 1714 he was articled to Mr Kirke, an...
, Bishop of Gloucester
Bishop of Gloucester
The Bishop of Gloucester is the Ordinary of the Church of England Diocese of Gloucester in the Province of Canterbury.The diocese covers the County of Gloucestershire and part of the County of Worcestershire and has its see in the City of Gloucester where the seat is located at the Cathedral Church...
(left) and Doctor Samuel Squire
Samuel Squire
Samuel Squire was a Bishop of the Church of England and a historian.-Early life:Squire was born the son of a druggist in Warminster, Wiltshire, and was first educated at Lord Weymouth's School. He matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1730 and graduated BA in 1734, winning the Craven...
, Bishop of St David's
Bishop of St David's
The Bishop of St David's is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St David's.The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St David's in Pembrokeshire, founding St David's Cathedral. The current Bishop of St...
(right). In the "Old Peerian or Aldermanic" row are Lord Melcombe
George Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe
George Bubb Dodington, 1st Baron Melcombe PC was an English politician and nobleman.Christened simply George Bubb, he acquired the surname Dodington around the time his uncle George Dodington died in 1720 and left him his estate...
(left) and another. The wig depicted to the far right is a "remarkable winged periwig" worn by Sir Samuel Fludyer, 1st Baronet
Sir Samuel Fludyer, 1st Baronet
Sir Samuel Fludyer, 1st Baronet , of Lee Place in Kent, was an English merchant and banker who served as a Member of Parliament and Lord Mayor of London....
when he became Lord Mayor of London
Lord Mayor of London
The Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
earlier in 1761.
At the bottom of the engraving is an inscription stating that a series of six folio volumes published over 17 years will set out the measurements of the periwigs of the ancients. This satirises Stuart's Antiquities of Athens. Above, a line of female profiles shows, from left to right, the face of Queen Charlotte and five others, each wearing a triple necklace and bearing a coronet
Coronet
A coronet is a small crown consisting of ornaments fixed on a metal ring. Unlike a crown, a coronet never has arches.The word stems from the Old French coronete, a diminutive of coronne , itself from the Latin corona .Traditionally, such headgear is – as indicated by the German equivalent...
: a duchess, a marchioness
Marchioness
Marchioness could refer to:*A noblewoman with the rank of Marquess, or the wife of a Marquess.*The Marchioness, a pleasure boat that was sunk on the River Thames in 1989....
, a countess, a viscountess, and a baroness
Baroness
Baroness is the female equivalent of the nobility title Baron.Baroness or The Baroness may also refer to:* Baroness , a metal band from Savannah, Georgia* Baroness , a fictional villain in the G.I...
. They have been alternatively identified as the Ladies of the Bedchamber in 1761 - the Duchess of Ancaster, Duchess of Hamilton, Countess of Effingham, Countess of Northumberland
Elizabeth Percy, Duchess of Northumberland
Elizabeth Percy, née Seymour, Duchess of Northumberland, heiress to the earldom of Northumberland and 2nd Baroness Percy was a British peeress....
, Viscountess Weymouth, and Viscountess Bolingbroke.
Hogarth created the engraving a few weeks after the coronation
Coronation
A coronation is a ceremony marking the formal investiture of a monarch and/or their consort with regal power, usually involving the placement of a crown upon their head and the presentation of other items of regalia...
of George III and Queen Charlotte, inspired by the elaborate costume worn by those who attended. Horace Walpole wrote: "Some of the peeresses were dressed over night, slept in armchairs, and were waked if they tumbled their heads".
A number of spelling mistakes were noted in the first state of the engraving ("", ""). A second state of the engraving corrects a typographical error by inserting the letter "e" in "", and relabels the "Episcopal" order of periwigs as "Episcopal and Parsonic".