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| Hogart, Self-Portrait with Dog, 1745 |
Hogarth and the copyright
Piracy? Copyright? These topics
are really present nowadays, however, they are not recent issues.
Copyright in art is the right to reproduce any work
resulting from any artistic discipline, as long as it’s an original, supposing
the author created something new and printed his art and personality on it. Of
course, this has several implications which are perfectly demarcated by every country’s
laws.
But the legal issue about piracy
is quite complex and I don’t feel able to talk about them. In any case, we can
talk about its history.
It’s been forever since copying
in art exists. What has changed is the concept of author/artist as owner of
that work, which is why some rights were derivated. When a Greek
artist would copy a statue by Phidias, nobody thought that that copy would
violate any of Phidias’ rights, even if the copier was paid for it. During
Middle Age, the artist’s name and originality didn’t really matter; it was
expected to see the artist taking some established parameters or their models
from manuals. Art was thought to be collective expression, not individual. But
everything changed in Renaissance, when artists start being conscient about
their creative ability, and therefore, sign their works. Then, unauthorized
copies would be a matter. Dürer, Canaletto and Hogarth would be part of the most
affected ones.
The improvement of the printing
techniques by Gutenberg would make copying much easier. Painters started
promoting their works with engravings: the stamps could be sent anywhere. If
the original work was also an engraving, everything got just harder. It meant
they could be copied with no effort and that the author would lose control of
their creations and their assoaciated profits.
Originally copyright issue appears in
literature around the XV century: the right to print any text was given by the
Kings. The first legislation was carried out in England (1709, Statute of Anne). In terms of artworks,
first one was also in England (1735) applied to engravings (Engraving Copyright Act). The
legislation in favour of music, sculpture, painting and photography would
appear later.
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| Hogarth, Her Death, Plate nº 5, "The Harlot's Progress" Series, 1732 |
William Hogarth was the most
important Engraving Copyright Act supported.
His works were constantly copied, especially his engraving series The Harlot’s
progress (1732). Hogarth was just a
marketing pioneer: he used his engravings to advertise his oil paintings. He
only printed them for a definite number of costumers, who had to pay in
advance, avoiding the printers. He didn’t have to share like this his profits
with anybody, but when he published them, printers had their revenge: at least
8 pirate copies of the series appeared, as himself told us. Along with other
artists, he presents the so called Engraver’s Request to the Parlament, ”secure
my Property to myself”.[1] It was written by himself, as it´s shown in one of its copies: "Hogarth got this drawn up". They consider that the unauthorized
copier should be punished since the copy is mechanic, and therefore, just a
piece of valueless paper: there is no effort put on it. After several
emendations, it was finally promulgated on 25th June 1735: the partial or
complete copy was prohibited and the sheets were owned by the artist; with 14
years of protection after his death. As soon as the law was approved, Hogarth
publishes his new series The rake’s progress) (1732-33).
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| Hogarth, Arrested for Debts, Plate nº 4 "The Rake's Progress" Series, 1735 |
The Engraving Copyright Act was the basis to the rest of laws and was
already repealed to approve some new laws more appropiate for our era. So far,
in England they are known as ‘Law Hogarth’.
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| Hogarth, Arrested for Debts, "The Rake's Progress", 1733 |
Sources: Deazley, R. On
the Origin of the Right to Copy. Oxford-Portland, Hart Publishing, 2004;
Stokes, S. Art and
Copyright.Oxford-Portland, Hart Publishing, 2012
[1] Deazley, pág. 89.
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