IMAGE
Hogarth, William, 1697-1764 :Marriage a-la-Mode. [The Countess's levee]. Plate IV. Invented, painted & published by Wm Hogarth. Engraved by S Ravenet according to Act of Parliament April 1st 1745.
- Date
- 1745
- By
- Ravenet, Simon Francois, 1706-1774
- Reference
- D-020-049
- Description
Countess Squanderfield is seated before her dressing table in her boudoir flirting with the lawyer Silvertongue and receiving guests. The coronets over her canopied bed and over her gilt mirror declare that her husband is now an Earl; the little rattle hanging from her chair tells us she has a child. Neither change has had a sobering effect. She tosses a cloth across her shoulders to protect her gown while the French valet curls her hair. An Italian castrato sings to the music of a flautist. Cards on the floor invite the Countess to routs at the home of Lady Hairbrain, Lady Heathen, etc. A fop in curl-papers points his toe and sips his chocolate. A rapturous woman spreads her arms as she listens to the castrato. Behind her a black servant, smiling, hovers with her cup, while her country-squire husband yawns in the corner next to a fan-holding man-about-town. On the left in the foreground the little slave in Moorish dress, grins and points at the antler horns of Actaeon, changed into a stag. Behind him the Countess's lover, Silvertongue, gestures towards the screen with its picture of a masquerade: the tickets are already in his hands. Behind in Caravaggio's painting Lot's daughters intoxicate their father in order to seduce him, while Correggio's Jupiter & Io show Io's rape by Zeus who takes the form of a cloud. Hanging on the right is a portrait of Silvertongue.
The male castrato is probably Senesino, the flautist Weidemann. The dandy in haircurlers is Herr Michel, the Prussian envoy. The lady in raptures is Mrs Fox Lane, Lady Bingley.
Source of descriptive information - Uglow, Jenny. Hogarth, a life and a world. London, 1997; and other sources
Other Titles - The Toilette
Inscriptions: Recto - beneath image - Title
Quantity: 1 b&w art print(s).
Physical Description: Engraving, 385 x 466 mm, on sheet 485 x 652 mm
- Additional description
Alternative form available: Negative 1/2-164842 shows details of the castrato and accompanying flautist
- Access restrictions
- Partly restricted - Please use surrogate in place of original
- Part of
- Hogarth, William 1697-1764 :The original works of William Hogarth. London, sold by John and Josiah Boydell, 1790 / Hogarth, William 1697-1764 :The original works of William Hogarth. London, sold by John and Josiah Boydell, 1790
- Format
- 1 b&w art print(s), Works of art, Engravings, Engraving, 385 x 466 mm, on sheet 485 x 652 mm
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Ravenet, Simon Francois, 1706-1774. Hogarth, William, 1697-1764 :Marriage a-la-Mode. [The Countess's levee]. Plate IV. Invented, painted & published by Wm Hogarth. Engraved by S Ravenet according to Act of Parliament April 1st 1745.. Hogarth, William 1697-1764 :The original works of William Hogarth. London, sold by John and Josiah Boydell, 1790. Ref: D-020-049. Alexander Turnbull Library, Wellington, New Zealand. /records/23060739More information can be found in our terms of use.