The stage is clear for the Countess and her lover
Excerpt from the book 'What Great Paintings Say Vol. II' by Rose-Marie & Rainer Hagen
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Although the artist does not use speech bubbles, he incorporates individual words into the painting, be it on the handwritten invitation cards or as the title of a book. One such is the French novel Le Sopha, which Hogarth conceals, although not too carefully, between the legs of the lawyer and the back of the oriental piece of furniture on which he is lounging-a sofa or its somewhat narrower variant. The book thus smuggled into the picture was written by Crébillon the younger. It was published in France in 1740 and in English translation in 1741 and became the favourite reading of all, male and female alike, who enjoyed indulging in erotic fantasies. Crébillon's novel is a sequel to the tales of A Thousand and One Nights: as an oriental narrator, he describes the wanderings of his soul, which take him to various sofas. What he sees and hears there-mostly affairs conducted out of boredom rather than passion, and often with blacks-is described in a refined prose whose elegant phrases allow the imagination to take wing. Crébillon's novel appeared at almost exactly the same time as Hogarth's painting-a French pendant to Hogarth's closer-to-home English series.
A polemic against forced marriages
Lawyer Silvertongue is holding some tickets in his right hand and with his left hand is gesturing towards a folding screen showing a masked company-it is to such a masquerade, the viewer deduces, that he wishes to accompany Lady Squander. Costumed and masked balls permitted illicit contact, and since tickets were on general sale, anyone who paid could go. The most important of these London masquerades was held in the opera house in the Haymarket, started at nine o'clock in the evening, and often didn't end until seven o'clock the next morning. During the course of the long evening, lawyer and Lady slip away to a bagnio-a hotel of ill repute-where they are surprised by the husband, who has probably been tipped off by a spy. This can be seen in picture number five. The murder of the husband is followed, in the sixth act, by the deaths of the adulterous lovers-a moral ending in keeping with the standards of the day.
Hogarth had difficulty selling his series as a complete set. Because it was not one painting but six, and because art lovers who had the money preferred to hang more conventional pictures on their walls, the sort that offered an uplifting vision of humankind and the world rather than laying society bare. Marriage À-la-Mode does not exist only on canvas, however. Like Hogarth's other cycles, it was also designed to be issued as engravings. These engravings brought the artist money. He sold part of the series on a subscription basis at a price of one guinea-the equivalent of two good seats at the theatre. This price rose by 50 per cent once the prints had appeared.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
Although the artist does not use speech bubbles, he incorporates individual words into the painting, be it on the handwritten invitation cards or as the title of a book. One such is the French novel Le Sopha, which Hogarth conceals, although not too carefully, between the legs of the lawyer and the back of the oriental piece of furniture on which he is lounging-a sofa or its somewhat narrower variant. The book thus smuggled into the picture was written by Crébillon the younger. It was published in France in 1740 and in English translation in 1741 and became the favourite reading of all, male and female alike, who enjoyed indulging in erotic fantasies. Crébillon's novel is a sequel to the tales of A Thousand and One Nights: as an oriental narrator, he describes the wanderings of his soul, which take him to various sofas. What he sees and hears there-mostly affairs conducted out of boredom rather than passion, and often with blacks-is described in a refined prose whose elegant phrases allow the imagination to take wing. Crébillon's novel appeared at almost exactly the same time as Hogarth's painting-a French pendant to Hogarth's closer-to-home English series.
A polemic against forced marriages
Lawyer Silvertongue is holding some tickets in his right hand and with his left hand is gesturing towards a folding screen showing a masked company-it is to such a masquerade, the viewer deduces, that he wishes to accompany Lady Squander. Costumed and masked balls permitted illicit contact, and since tickets were on general sale, anyone who paid could go. The most important of these London masquerades was held in the opera house in the Haymarket, started at nine o'clock in the evening, and often didn't end until seven o'clock the next morning. During the course of the long evening, lawyer and Lady slip away to a bagnio-a hotel of ill repute-where they are surprised by the husband, who has probably been tipped off by a spy. This can be seen in picture number five. The murder of the husband is followed, in the sixth act, by the deaths of the adulterous lovers-a moral ending in keeping with the standards of the day.
Hogarth had difficulty selling his series as a complete set. Because it was not one painting but six, and because art lovers who had the money preferred to hang more conventional pictures on their walls, the sort that offered an uplifting vision of humankind and the world rather than laying society bare. Marriage À-la-Mode does not exist only on canvas, however. Like Hogarth's other cycles, it was also designed to be issued as engravings. These engravings brought the artist money. He sold part of the series on a subscription basis at a price of one guinea-the equivalent of two good seats at the theatre. This price rose by 50 per cent once the prints had appeared.
Page 1 2 3 4 5 6
