William Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode. Marriage A-la-Mode is a series of six pictures painted by William Hogarth between 1743 and 1745 which are a pointed skewering of 18th-century society.
It shows the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money or social status, and satirises patronage and aesthetics. The pictures are exhibited in the National Gallery, London.
This series of paintings were not received as well as his other moral tales, A Harlot's Progress and A Rake's Progress, and when they were finally sold in 1751, it was for a much lower sum than the artist had hoped for. In Marriage A-la-Mode Hogarth challenges the traditional view that the rich live virtuous lives and satirises arranged marriages.
In each piece, he shows the young couple and their family and acquaintances at their worst: engaging in affairs, drinking, gambling, and numerous other vices. This is regarded by some as his finest project, and the best example of his serially-planned story cycles.
In the first of the series, The Marriage Settlement, called The marriage contract by Hogarth, he shows an arranged marriage between the son of bankrupt Earl Squanderfield and the daughter of a wealthy but miserly city merchant. Construction on the Earl's new mansion, visible through the window, has stopped, and a usurer negotiates payment for further construction at the center table. The gouty Earl proudly points to a picture of his family
It shows the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money or social status, and satirises patronage and aesthetics. The pictures are exhibited in the National Gallery, London.
This series of paintings were not received as well as his other moral tales, A Harlot's Progress and A Rake's Progress, and when they were finally sold in 1751, it was for a much lower sum than the artist had hoped for. In Marriage A-la-Mode Hogarth challenges the traditional view that the rich live virtuous lives and satirises arranged marriages.
In each piece, he shows the young couple and their family and acquaintances at their worst: engaging in affairs, drinking, gambling, and numerous other vices. This is regarded by some as his finest project, and the best example of his serially-planned story cycles.
In the first of the series, The Marriage Settlement, called The marriage contract by Hogarth, he shows an arranged marriage between the son of bankrupt Earl Squanderfield and the daughter of a wealthy but miserly city merchant. Construction on the Earl's new mansion, visible through the window, has stopped, and a usurer negotiates payment for further construction at the center table. The gouty Earl proudly points to a picture of his family
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