\paperw19995 \margr0\margl0 \plain \fs20 \f1 Hogarth painted this work to record what happened to him in the French city of Calais, where he was accused of being a spy.
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Hogarth portrays himself on the left of the painting in the figure busy drawing. An officer is placing a hand on his shoulder to arrest him. \par
The focal point of the composition is the side of beef that has just been unloaded from a British sh
ip and is intended for English hotel guests, as printed by words on the piece of paper in which the meat is wrapped.\par
A friar and two soldiers are staring at it hungrily as they eat a not very appetizing meal from their bowls, brought to them by two
cooks in a large copper pot.\par
The scene is framed on the left by a group of women who are admiring a skate and on the right by a man dressed in Scottish costume looking sadly at his own wretched meal of bread and onion.\par
The painting is intended
as a satire on arrogant soldiers and a condemnation of the ordinary peopleÆs poverty and of religious bigotry, a theme alluded to by the scene of a last sacrament being offered in the background, outside the gate of the city.
