William Hogarth, The Enraged Musician

This was intended as a companion piece to the print version of The Distrest Poet, and there was apparently a plan to add a third installment about a painter, which was sadly never completed. 

Once again, there is the humorous element, where the refined violinist can't bear all the noise of the rabble outside of his window. How dare the workers and the street musicians get in the way of his high art! The urinating boy dragging a piece of slate across the ground is a classic Hogarth touch. 

On a more serious level, I have been told that this is also a commentary on the state of the contemporary English musical scene, as evidenced by the poster for a performance of The Beggar's Opera, indicating the new popularity of a folksier British style, in contrast to the previous reverence for the fancier Italian tradition. Hogarth apparently approved of this change in fashion. 

I further enjoy another interpretation, that the comely milkmaid, who is certainly the center of visual attention, is singing a lovely song, and yet the violinist is closing his ears to its homespun beauty. 

I understand why the fellow is so frustrated, as I also enjoy my peace and quiet when I am reading, writing, listening to Bach, or smoking my pipe. Nevertheless, there are those times when the sounds of the city are as wonderful as the finest concerto. 

William Hogarth, The Enraged Musician (1741)