Freemasonry has been the subject of satire and lampooning since its inception in the 1700s courtesy
of cartoonists such as Hogarth and Gillray, but the 20th century gave it far more prominence in what we now consider ‘popular culture’. Artwork, comics, books, operas and vaudeville, and then the mainstream media of TV and film, have all featured references to the Fraternity. Part one begins with the satirical – and propagandist – cartoons and art from the 18th- to the 20th century.