1. THE CONTRACT

            2. BREAKFAST SCENE

            3. SCENE WITH THE QUACK (DOCTOR)

            4. TOILET SCENE

            5. DEATH OF THE EARL

            6. DEATH OF THE COUNTESS

William Hogarth was born in 1697.  Somewhere about 1712 he was apprenticed to Ellis Gamble, and engraved shop cards, and carved arms and blazonries, and the like for seven years.  After this gifted apprenticeship, he went on to become one of the best known satirical artist.  He drew his subjects from everyday life.  He endeavored to treat his subjects as a dramatic writer; his pictures were his stage; and the men and women were the players.  From this style of art he made illustrations for stories such as Don Quixote, Marriage A-La-Mode, Industry and Idleness, Hudibras, and Rake’s Progress, to name a few.   He also painted and engraved many other miscellaneous pieces that were drawn from everyday life.

This collectible set of engravings of Marriage A-La-Mode illustrates the arranged marriage of the two parties, as was common in the 18^th century, and carries the story through the excessive lives that were common place for the wealthy at the time; the excessive parties; the affairs of each party; the Earl avenging his honor; and finally the dishonor and grief of the Countess.

WILLIAM HOGARTH

MARRIAGE A-LA-MODE - THE CONTRACT

     There is always a something wanting to make men happy. The great think themselves not sufficiently rich, and the rich believe themselves not enough distinguished. This is the case of the alderman of London, and the motive which makes him covet for his daughter the alliance of great lord; who, on his part, does not consent thereto but one condition of enriching his son: and this is what the painter calls Marriage a-la-Mode.

     The portly nobleman, with the conscious dignity of high birth, displays his genealogical tree, the root of which is, William, Duke of Normandy, and conqueror of England. The valour of his great progenitor, and the various merits of the collateral branches which dignity his pedigree, he considers as united in his own person, and therefore looks upon an alliance with his son as the acme of honour, the apex of exaltation. While he is thus glorying in the dust of which his ancestors were once compounded, the prudent citizen, who, in return for it, has parted with dust of a much more weighty and useful description, paying no regard to this heraldic blazonry, devotes all his attention to the marriage settlement. The illustrious ancestry, while the worshipful alderman, regardless of the past, and considering the present as merely preparatory of the future, calculates what provision there will be for a young family. Engrossed by their favourite reflections, neither of these sagacious personages regard the want of attachment in those who are to by united as worthy a moment’s consideration. To the Viscount justice, he seems equally indifferent; for, though evidently in love, it is with himself. Gazing in the mirror with delight, and, in a affected style, displaying his gold snuff-box and glittering ring, he is quite a husband a la mode. The lady, very well disposed to retaliate, plays with her wedding-ring, and repays this chilling coldness with sullen contempt; her heart is not worth the Viscount’s attention, and she determines to bestow it on the first suitor.  An insidious lawyer, lake an evil spirit, ever ready to move or second a temptation, appears beside her. That he is an eloquent pleader, is intimated by his name, Counsellor Silvertongue: That he can make the worse appear the better cause, is only saying, in other words, that he is great in the profession. The predict that, with such an advocate, her virtue is in danger, would not be sufficiently expressive. His captivating tones, and insinuating manner, would have ensnared Lucretia.

     Two dogs in a corner, coupled against their inclinations, are good emblems of the ceremony which is to pass.

     The ceiling of this magnificent apartment is decorated with the story of Pharaoh and his host drowned in the Red Sea. The ocean, on a ceiling, proves a projector’s taste; the sublimity of a painter is exemplified in the hero delineated with one of the attributes of Jove.  This fluttering figure is probably intended for one of the peer’s high-born ancestors, and is invested with the golden fleece, and some other foreign orders.  To give him still greater dignity, he is in the character of Jupiter, while one hand holds up an ample robe, the other grasps a thunderbolt.  A comet is taking its rapid course over his head; and in one corner of the picture, two of the family of Boreas are judiciously blowing contrary ways. All this is ridiculous enough, but not an iota more absurd than many of the French portraits, which Hogarth evidently intended to burlesque by this parody.

IMPORTANT TO NOTE

Antique prints, etchings, engravings, and lithographs are printing processes which use steel, copper, stone or wood blocks or plates to produce a picture on paper.

Most antique prints and engravings, which are seen on the internet today, are bookplates.  Because they are pages from a book, there are multiple copies in existence.  This does not, however, mean that they are "reproductions" that have been printed recently.  Because they were, at some point, part of books, some have been preserved in excellent condition, while others show signs of age, as yellow spots or darkness on the edge of the page from being handled.

Engravings, lithographs, ect. are high quality pieces of art, as it took a highly trained artist many hours of work to produce one.  Although there may be multiple copies still in existence, the date of the item should be stated in the auction, thus giving the buyer an idea of it's age.