In his Cambridge Inaugural Address (1858) Ruskin saw Hogarth as one of the 'great painters in our schools of painting in England' placing him in the field of 'the philosophy of social life' ( Works, 16.197). He believed that Hogarth rose as an artist by painting 'London follies' ( Works, 12.153) and is recorded as noting Hogarth's 'bitter, agonising satire' ( Works, 12.495). According to Ruskin, Hogarth 'laughs at or condemns us' ( Works, 14.223). Earlier, he had compared him favourably with contemporary art by asking the reader of Modern Painters to compare 'the recent exhibition of middle-age cartoons for the Houses of Parliament with the works of Hogarth' ( Works, 3.230). In The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) he argued that the decoration of the portal of St. Maclou in Rouen had a 'fearful grotesqueness' that he could only see as 'mingling the minds of Orcagna and Hogarth' ( Works, 8.212). In 'The Nature of Gothic', Ruskin argued that Hogarth was able to represent evil in 'all that is needful of it' ( Works, 10.223). He was aware of Hogarth's deliberations on aesthetics, and referred to his 'reversed line of beauty' in The Stones of Venice, Vol lll (1853) ( Works, 11.8). In 1883, he wrote to Franz Goedecker who had sent him some photographs of his work. He told Goedecker:
If you add to your present gift of seizing grotesque or abnormal character... you might win for yourself such an honourable fame as that of Hogarth, instead of the momentary praise of amusing the idleness of evening parties'. ( Works, 14.490)
Hogarth, was for Ruskin, one of the 'five real painters' of the English School along with Reynolds, Gainsborough, Wilson and Turner ( Works, 16.414).