Etchings upstairs

“Would you like to come upstairs and see my etchings?” was, of course, the kind of veiled invitation to naked abandon that was popular in a less vulgar age, before hormonally stimulated men and women learned the effective simplicity of being much more forthright and direct. William Hogarth (1697-1764) was a painter who also engraved plates; these engravings contain a number of symbolic references to the mores of his day. Which kind of makes Hogarth an editorial cartoonist in 18th-century London, at the time a city smaller than current-day Sacramento. Some 66 of his engravings are on display in the show The London Engraver: Engravings by William Hogarth, at the Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St., through September 22. Open Tuesday through Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; until 9 p.m. on Thursday, $6 (adults), $4 (seniors), $3 (students w/I.D), free (kids under 6; everyone on Sunday from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.).