殘酷的四個階段

《四個殘酷的舞台》是一系列的四幅雕版畫，由英國畫家威廉·賀加斯於1751年所製作的。整套印刷品描述了虛構人物湯姆・尼祿一生中四個不同的舞台。一開始從孩童年代的戲虐小狗為《第一個殘酷的舞台》，尼祿長大成人後繼而對他的馬作出摔打為《第二個殘酷的舞台》，之後在《終極殘酷》中更牽涉搶劫、誘姦和謀殺等髮指罪行。然而，賀加斯認為由他一開始鋪路作犯科，就要無法避免地承受命運的制裁。結果，尼祿在《殘酷的回報》中以兇殺的罪名被送上絞架問吊，而死後他的屍首亦任由一群外科醫生在解剖講堂將之切開解剖。

威廉·賀加斯 (1697年–1764年)

賀加斯有感於同樣的倫常慘案每天在倫敦街頭不斷發生，因而特意製作雕版畫來達致教化大眾的效果。為方便當時的低下階層閱讀，版畫都印刷在廉價的紙張上。整個系列呈現一種處決帶來的粗暴與殘忍的感覺，而作者亦沒有顯示一貫幽默的畫風來緩和作品的殘酷氣氛。霍加斯認為畫中的殘忍感覺能夠向既定的觀眾傳遞他意圖表達的訊息。儘管如此，《四個殘酷的舞台》依然可以見到賀加斯作品的色彩，例如帶有豐富的細節與隱約的關聯思想。

備註

a. ^{^} A pair of impressions from Bell's original printing were acquired for £1600 by the University of Glasgow's Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery in 2005.

b. ^{^} There is some confusion over the date of George "The Barber" Taylor's career and death. In his earlier work Paulson puts him as a pupil of Broughton, killed in a fight with him in 1750, and the Tate Gallery dates Hogarth's sketches to c.1750. In Hogarth's "Harlot", he states that Taylor retired in 1750 but came out of retirement in 1757 for a final fight in which he was badly beaten, dying from his injuries several months later. Most records date Taylor's championship to the middle 1730s.

c. ^{^} The initials on the box are normally read as A. G. for Ann Gill, but the G resembles a D, suggesting the box too may have been stolen.

d. ^{^} John Ireland identifies the president as "Mr Frieake, the master of Nourse, to whom Mr Potts was a pupil". Since Ireland identifies him as the master of Nourse, he undoubtedly means John Freke, an acquaintance of Hogarth's and surgeon at St Bartholomew's Hospital from 1729–1755 and a Governor 1736–1756. The dissection could be taking place at St Bartholomew's Hospital, where all three surgeons were based, but it also has features of the Cutlerian Theatre of the Royal College of Physicians near Newgate (particularly the throne, which bears their arms, and its curved wall resembling a cockpit) and the niches of the Barber-Surgeons' Hall (which was not used for dissection after the Surgeons split away to form the Company of Surgeons in 1745).