Pictorial Narratives: Hogarth’s Marriage àla Mode Essay -- Essays Pa

Pictorial Narratives Hogarths trades union la ModeOne of Hogarths bitterest satires, Marriage la Mode, showed the disastrous results of a marriage of convenience concluded between the son of a poverty-stricken nobleman and the daughter of an aspiring merchant (Jarrett 88). Yet this background information is not necessary to appreciate each painting independently. From the first painting, in which the ambitious fathers of the couple exchange money and titles, to the utmost two prints that show the husband and wifes melodramatic deaths, each of the six prints tells both a episode in the story of this doomed arrange marriage and a story in and of itself. The first two Marriage la Mode prints, The Marriage Settlement and Shortly After the Marriage, both post numerous works of art, architecture, period dress and other carefully placed props that allow each work to tell a story without being dependent on the context of the series. Because of its immense detail, The Marriage Contract is perhaps one of the easiest prints to appreciate. Even without any prior knowledge of this work, an inexperienced art tyro posterior still ascertain that the scene takes place in an aristocratic home. Copies of paintings after the old masters hang in gilt frames, the ceiling is calico and the walls hung with green damask. Two men sit at a table in some sort of business transaction, as evidenced by the comportment of three lawyers, numerous documents and money. The gentleman on the rights portrait hangs on the wall above the table, indicating that the deal is being brokered in his home. He is correspondingly dressed in fine clothes, whereas the other gentleman is more modestly attired. The skill with which Hogarth has represented the swelling aristocratic pride of the Earl and the lower-bred, commercial demeanor of the Sheriff was regarded by eighteenth-century critics, best acquainted with the social manners of their age, as masterly (Webster 103). A document th at reads Marriage Settlement of the Rt. Honble Lord Viscount Squanderfield rests in the hand of the non-artistocratic gentleman, his careful studying of the document indicating that he is the brides father. In turn, he has handed over a sum of money to the Viscounts father (who the inexperienced viewer can assume holds the title earl). In turn, the Earl points to his contribution to the marriag... ...m each other. The Roman bust with a broken nose on the mantle and the painting above it, featuring Cupid vie a song on the bagpipes ironically titled O Happy Groves amidst falling ruins, suggest the similarly ruined and collapsing state of the couples marriage.Hogarths outstandingly exuberant satire of marriage for money, his pungent details of upper-class life, and his mastery of complex scenes find perhaps their highest expression in this series, generally considered his finest work. (Encarta). Although critics have commented that the series progresses somewhat abruptly, with l ittle idea of what occurs in between the six scenes, rarely is any one painting referred to independent of the others. But because of the complexity of each scene, the paintings, The Marriage Contract and The Tte--Tte in particular, can easily stand by themselves as brilliant satires of arranged marriage in the 18th century. much(prenominal) is the genius of Hogarth. Works CitedHallett, Mark. Hogarth. London Phaidon Press, 2000.Jarrett, Derek. England in the Age of Hogarth. London Hart-Davis, MacGibbon Ltd, 1974. Webster, Mary. Hogarth. Danbury, CT MasterWorks Press, 1984.