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 III. The Inspection, "A Quack inur'd to Quench the Guilty Flames; Of Early Victims and Practiced Dames. The Husband wou'd restore by Medicine's Power; The Bloom the Once Contaminated Flower." one of a set of six hand-colored engravings titled "MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE. Plate III. The Inspection. Invented & Painted by Wm. Hogarth. Interior with woman standing on left next to a seated man gesticulating to a woman and man standing on the right. The third scene takes place in the room of a French doctor (M. de La Pillule). The Viscount is seated with his child mistress beside him, apparently having contracted venereal disease, as indicated by the black spot on his neck, Hogarth's symbol for those taking the mercurial pills which were the only known treatment for this ailment. He holds towards the doctor a box of pills; other boxes on the chair and in his mistress's hand suggest he is seeking an alternative remedy. An older woman holds a clasp knife; she appears to be the young girl's mother. The machines to the right, identified in the inscription on the open book, are for setting a broken shoulder, and drawing corks. A skeleton embraces a model in the cupboard behind the Viscount. 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.
Tags:
satire Link to share this object record:
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