Death. The Lady's Death is the sixth and final canvas in the series of satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.
The Countess has returned to her father's house after her husband's murder. The moral drama is concluded with her having moved from dissipation and vice to misery and shame, and finally to terminating her existence by suicide after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband.
The final scene takes place in the Countess's father's frugally furnished house, in contrast to the old Earl's mansion in the first scene. Torn by guilt and despair after discovering her lover's death, the Countess has taken poison having bribed her father's dim-witted servant to procure her a dose of laudanum.
The empty vial lies on the floor. The paper on the floor at the feet of the Countess next to the vial is the handbill /broadsheet giving the notice of the execution of Silvertongue, the tripod at the head is the Tyburn Tree-with a report of Silvertongue's last dying speech from the gallows, the final straw that pushed the Countess to suicide.
The only people showing any sorrow for her death are her daughter and old maidservant. The child's legs are fitted with calipers, indicating she has rickets. The child has a black patch on her neck indicating that she has contracted syphilis from her parents. The patch could also indicate scrofula; in either cas
The Countess has returned to her father's house after her husband's murder. The moral drama is concluded with her having moved from dissipation and vice to misery and shame, and finally to terminating her existence by suicide after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband.
The final scene takes place in the Countess's father's frugally furnished house, in contrast to the old Earl's mansion in the first scene. Torn by guilt and despair after discovering her lover's death, the Countess has taken poison having bribed her father's dim-witted servant to procure her a dose of laudanum.
The empty vial lies on the floor. The paper on the floor at the feet of the Countess next to the vial is the handbill /broadsheet giving the notice of the execution of Silvertongue, the tripod at the head is the Tyburn Tree-with a report of Silvertongue's last dying speech from the gallows, the final straw that pushed the Countess to suicide.
The only people showing any sorrow for her death are her daughter and old maidservant. The child's legs are fitted with calipers, indicating she has rickets. The child has a black patch on her neck indicating that she has contracted syphilis from her parents. The patch could also indicate scrofula; in either cas
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