O the Roast Beef of Old England (‘The Gate of Calais’)
- Artist: William Hogarth
- Date: 1748
- Medium: Oil paint on canvas
- Dimensions: support: 788 x 945 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the *O the Roast Beef of Old England (‘The Gate of Calais’) by William Hogarth. In 1748 the artist was arrested in Calais after sketching the fort’s gate, and he turned that moment into a pointed satire. The canvas shows the English beef on a platter at the center—an icon of English abundance—next to a gaunt French soldier nursing a bowl of watery soup. Hogarth even inserted himself on the left, holding a sketchbook, with a guard’s hand on his shoulder, a reminder that he was a suspected spy.
On the right a skinny Jacobite, a Scottish exile, lingers beside a cracked bowl of onion and bread, while a fat friar reaches greedily for the meat, and a crow perches above a cross, mocking religious piety. The scene is a biting commentary on national identity, xenophobia and the contrast between English prosperity and French poverty. It’s an oil on canvas, finished in the same year the artist was released and made a living from such sharp observations. The work has traveled through exhibitions since the early 19th century and was presented to us by the Duke of Westminster in 1895.
See it in person
O the Roast Beef of Old England (‘The Gate of Calais’) is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
