Description:
Hogarth prints were among the most popular available before the 19th century--so much so that it was easy to get pirated editions of his works. "Hogarth was a moral dramatist... in favor of raising satire to an artistic standard that would attract a cultivated if not intellectural audience. "Marriage a-la--Mode follows the unhappy marriage and fatal end of a young couple whose marriage was arranged for financial gain. The union quickly unravels in the face of gambling, infidelity, and greed. As in all his works, these prints are full of detail and symbols, and give an accurate portrayal of funiture and interior decor of his period. Plate I, The Marriage Settlement, one of a set of six hand-colored engravings titled "MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE. Plate I. Invented & Painted by Wm. Hogarth, "From Pelf and Vanity Descended; By Law here Vice and Folly Blended. Strange Produce must that Union Make; Where she's a Fool and he's a Rake." Line etching with burin work on paper with watercolor, Interior with three men around a table at left, one man looking out a window on the left, and a man and woman seated on the right with a man standing, leaning to speak to the woman. The story starts in the mansion of the Earl Squander who is arranging to marry his son to the daughter of a wealthy but mean city merchant. It ends with the murder of the son and the suicide of the daughter. In the first scene the aged Earl (far right) is shown with his family tree and the crutches he needs because of his gout. The new house which he is having built is visible through the window. The merchant, who is plainly dressed, holds the marriage contract, while his daughter behind him listens to a young lawyer, Silvertongue. The Earl's son, the Viscount, admires his face in a mirror. Two dogs, chained together in the bottom left corner, perhaps symbolise the marriage. Hogarth's details, especially the paintings on the walls, comment on the action. A grand portrait in the French manner on the rear wall confronts a Medusa head, denoting horror, on the side wall. See E. McSherry Fowble, "Two Centuries of Prints in America 1680-1880, A Selective Catalogue of the Winterthur Museum Collection" (University Press of Virginia, 1987), pp. 19, 187.
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