William Hogarth's "Marriage a-la-Mode" gallery guide

PLATE I

PLATE II

PLATE III

MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE SERIES PLATE IV

PLATE V

PLATE VI

In 1745, after a ten-year gap since his previous “modern moral subject” series, The Rake’s Progress, William Hogarth offered for publication Marriage A-la-Mode.

Marriage A-la-Mode features five main characters, The Alderman and his daughter, the Earl of Squander and his son Viscount Squanderfield, and the lawyer Silvertongue.

Over six scenes spanning two years of marriage, Hogarth tells the story of an ill-fated high society marriage. The series is alternately titled “a Variety of Modern Occurrences in High Life.” As in each modern moral series, unchecked self-interest, greed, lust, and folly result in death for characters and their offspring. In keeping with Hogarth’s disdain for all things foreign, foreign affectations, behaviors, and art are satirized in each scene. Ironically, while Hogarth engraved both The Harlot’s Progress and The Rake’s Progress himself, he imported three French engravers to engrave Marriage A-la-Mode.

Click each detail above to learn about its painting, or swipe right to start reading about all six.

PLATE I

In Plate I Hogarth introduces all five characters. The focus in on the marriage settlement in the center of the composition held by the Alderman. The bespectacled, plainly-clothed alderman sits across from the ostentatiously dressed, gout-stricken Earl of Squander. The Earl points to his aristocratic lineage with a family tree emerging from the abdomen of William the Conquerer. While the wealthy Alderman seeks status for his daughter, the Earl seeks money to fund the house under construction visible through the window. Two dogs, joined by a coupling collar, foreshadow the demise of the young Viscount Squanderfield and his future bride’s marriage. She is already involved or soon to be involved with the lawyer Silvertongue who holds her attention. The young Viscount’s is distracted by his own reflection. His black spot suggests venereal disease predates the marriage. Caricatured “old dark master” paintings, like the raging Medusa mimic those works frequently important from continental Europe by English “high society.”

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate I, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Marriage Settlement), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.58

PLATE II

Located in their opulent, yet vulgar drawing room, the couple are surrounded by disarray of their creation. Viscount Squanderfield has returned home after noon looking slovenly and disheveled from last night’s romps. A woman’s cap being sniffed by a dog and the women’s handkerchief tied around his sword along with his growing black spot seem to confirm his adulterous activities. His wife observes his state, but seems satisfied with her own secrets. Her posture suggests pregnancy and her sly look, upturned shoes, and possible mirror signaling suggest Silvertongue could be lurking nearby. His presence is further suggested by intertwined violin cases, overturned chair, and cards piled on the floor. A steward stalks off disapprovingly with a stack of unpaid bills.

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate II, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Tête-à-Tête), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.59

PLATE III

Living separate lives, the third plate shows only Viscount Squanderfield with his mistress—a child—at a nearby doctor seeking treatment for venereal disease. A pill box is located between his legs seems to hold the same black mercurial pills that have failed to cure his young mistress. She dabs at an syphilitic infection holding her own pill box. A quack doctor with signs advanced syphilis (collapsed nose bridge, bowed legs, bulging forehead, thick lips, toothlessness) appears near scull with ominous black holes. The woman at center, likely the girl’s mother and as well as a prostitute herself, joins the Viscount in complaining about the ineffective pills.

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate III, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Inspection), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.60

PLATE IV

Now the Countess of Squanderfield, the countess holds court in her boudoir according to French custom. She flirts openly with her lover, Silvertongue who reclines across from her. The coral teething ring confirms she is now a mother, though the child is absent. Silvertongue gestures to a screen depicting a masquerade as he invites her to attend with him. Erotic literature tucked behind his foot reveals his intentions for the evening. Her retinue includes an Italian opera singer, a flautist, two vaguely useful yet conspicuously effeminate—and presumably foreign—men, a sleeping man contrasted with a woman enamored with the castrato’s voice, and two servants. The servant near the countess’ recent auction winnings (more grotesqueries, like those on the mantel in Plate II) holds Actaeon, whose horns represent the cuckholding of her husband. Holding a toilette, bidding frivolously, and “owning” a young servant of color were fashionable markers of status in mid 18th-century “high society.”

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate IV, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Toilette), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.61

PLATE V

After the masquerade, the countess and Silvertongue have rented a room at a bagnio. The discarded masks and her crumpled hoop skirt on the floor evidence the purpose of their stay. Their evening, however, has been interrupted by Lord Squanderfield who has burst through the door. Silvertongue has fatally stabbed Squanderfield. The bloody sword lies in front of the discarded clothing. Silvertongue sneaks out a window in his nightdress as the countess prays on her knees.

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate V, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Bagnio), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.62

PLATE VI

In the final scene, the countess is pale, dying. Dealing with the scandal of her husband’s murder and lover’s trial has driven her back to the Alderman’s house. Upon reading news of Silvertongue’s execution she has poisoned herself—the broadsheet and empty bottle lie at her feet. A nurse brings a young child showing the telltale sign of congenital syphilis to kiss his mother goodbye. He bears the mercurial spot, his nose bridge is low, and his legs are braced. The child will not survive long. The Alderman, knowing suicide results in forfeiture, preemptively removes his daughter’s ring to stow it with his precious ledgers. His self-interest has not waned even amid the disastrous results of the marriage he arranged to increase his stature.

William Hogarth (English, 1697–1764), Plate VI, Marriage A-La-Mode, 1745, (The Lady’s Death), etching and engraving, Anonymous Donor’s Purchase Fund, LSUMOA 62.8.63