Last month we published the second edition of the online journal on our free-access digital platform, Burlington Contemporary (contemporary.burlington.org.uk). The journal’s ambition to present as diverse a range as possible of contemporary art history is amply fulfilled in articles that range from tightly focused analyses of individual works to wide-ranging surveys of current concerns. Sarah Messerschmidt, for example, uses a single work, Adrian Paci’s ...

Hogarth’s enduring appeal in the twenty-first century is surely based on his timeless ability to present with wit and empathy the immorality and vice he perceived in all classes of society. His ‘modern moral subjects’ are well known to students of eighteenth century art and social history yet it is remarkable that the considerable and growing body of literature on Hogarth continues to offer new and interesting reinterpretations of these celebrated works.