The Gate of Calais, or the Roast Beef of Old England

The Gate of Calais encapsulates William Hogarth's intense xenophobia and a growing Francophobia among the British in the period before the Seven Years War. On a 1748 trip to Calais, France, Hogarth's sketching of the city gate aroused suspicion of espionage, and he was arrested. Upon returning to London he painted The Gate of Calais, vilifying the French and their Catholic religion. Playing off a ballad from Henry Fielding's Grub Street Opera, Hogarth used food to symbolize the two nations - the hearty roast beef greedily coveted by the priest represents the prosperity of England, whereas the emaciated French soldiers' bland, meager meals suggest a society oppressed by tyranny. The Scottish Highlander in the foreground is an exile from the recent Jacobite rebellions-French-supported military attempts to restore the Catholic Stuart monarchy to the English throne. Hogarth appears in the background as the recorder of the scene; the hand on his shoulder alludes to his capture in Calais.