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 second engraving shows the newlyweds in their opulent home, each already disinterested in the other. The young Viscount, having returned from a night of debauchery, slumps exhausted in a chair, a dog pulling a ladys cap from his coat pocketa clear sign of infidelity. His sword lies broken at his feet, hinting at a recent fight or misadventure.nThe Viscountess, meanwhile, stretches and yawns contentedly after what appears to be a card party or musical gathering, suggested by the scattered chairs and a still-burning candelabrum. Her aloofness is further underlined by the presence of Silvertongue, the lawyer seen in the first scene, slipping discreetly out of the house.nA dishevelled servant throws up his hands in despair at the disorder, while another brings in a pile of unpaid bills, reinforcing the growing financial and moral chaos of the household. The cluttered, rococo interiorfilled with tasteless art and mismatched decormirrors the breakdown of values in this mismatched union.
Engraver: Baron, Bernard (1698-after 1755)
First published: London: William Hogarth, 1745
Image Size (cm): 44.5×355
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 159
Sheet size (cm): 49×40.5
Technique: Copper Engraving
This state: 1745
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