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, 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 IV, The Toilette, one of a set of six hand-colored engravings titled "MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE. Plate IV. Invented & Painted by Wm. Hogarth. "The CUNNING Lawyer, takes the HOUR of Dress; His ASSIGNATIONS with the Fair to Press: The Wife an OBJECT of INTRIGUE is deem'd, where Triflers, and where TRIFLES, are Esteem'd." The print shows a crowded dressing room where on the left, a woman is seated at dressing table having her hair done by a male hair dresser while she is talking with a man reclining on a sofa and a young black servant unpacks basket on the floor. To the right, group of men and a woman are seated and talking, while a musician plays and a black servant stands next to the window. After the death of the old Earl the wife is now the Countess, with a coronet above her bed and over the dressing table, where she sits. She has also become a mother, and a child's teething coral hangs from her chair. The lawyer Silvertongue invites her to a masquerade like the one to which he points, depicted on the screen. A group of visitors on the left listen to an opera singer, possibly a castrato, accompanied by a flautist. An African page on the right unpacks a collection of curiosities bought at auction, including a figure of Actaeon. The paintings on the right wall show 'Lot and his Daughters' and 'Jupiter and Io' (after Correggio). On the left wall is a portrait of the lawyer and 'Rape of Ganymede' (after Michelangelo).
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=HD+59.077.4 |
