Colouring: Uncoloured
Condition: Very Good
Confirmed: No
Description: Marriage A-la-Mode is a series of six engravings based on oil paintings by William Hogarth. As in the original paintings, the prints offer a scathing critique of the idea that the aristocracy and wealthy live moral or virtuous lives. Hogarth satirises the institution of arranged marriage, portraying a young couple and their circle engaging in infidelity, drunkenness, gambling, and various other vices.nThe third engraving show the surgery of a quack doctor, widely thought to represent Dr Jean Misaubin. The Viscount, now visibly unwell, slumps in a chair, his expression weary and resigned. A small pillbox rests on the seat between his legs, alluding to the mercury treatment then used for syphilis.nDr Misaubin stands to the right, polishing his spectacles, beside a grotesque womanpossibly his wifewhose appearance suggests she too is afflicted by disease. In the centre, a young child is presented for examination, possibly infected by the Viscount. Her distressed mother pleads with the doctor for help.nThe setting is cluttered with unsettling curiosities: a syphilitic skull lies on the table, while a skeleton, mummified figures, and bizarre medical instruments fill the room. The bleak scene underscores the consequences of the Viscounts libertine lifestyle and the dangers of pseudoscientific medicine.
Engraver: Baron, Bernard (1698-after 1755)
First published: London: William Hogarth, 1745
Image Size (cm): 44.5×35.5
Mapmaker: Hogarth, William (1697-1764)
Notes: Purchase details
Other states: After Hogarths death in 1764, the plates passed through various publishers and were reissued multiple times
Primary Category: Prints & Related Material
References: Paulson 160.
Sheet size (cm): 49×41
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1745
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