A Rake's Progress, 3: The Tavern Scene

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The Tavern Scene
William Hogarth - A Rake's Progress - Tavern Scene.jpg
Year1732-33
Mediumoil on canvas
Dimensions62.5 cm× 75 cm(24.6 in× 30 in)
LocationSir John Soane's Museum, London

Tavern Scene or The Orgy is a work by William Hogarth from 1735, the third picture from the series A Rake's Progress . [1]

Contents

A Rake's Progress totals eight oil paintings from 1732 to 1733. They were published as engravings from 1734. The series depicts the fictional Tom Rakewell's decline and fall. He was the free spending son and heir of a rich merchant. In the story, he comes to London, wasting his money on luxurious life, buying the services of prostitutes and gambling. He ends up in Fleet Prison, and finally at the Bethlem Hospital, or Bedlam. [2] [3]

Painting

The picture, which draws from the merry company tradition of painting, shows the beginning of Tom Rakewell's way down. It depicts a riotous scene on the combined brothel and the restaurant Rose Tavern at Drury Lane in Covent Garden at three o'clock in the morning. [4]

The protagonist Tom, drunk with his sword at his side and surrounded by prostitutes, is sprawling in a chair, with one foot on a table. Beside him is a rod and lantern, which he stole during his nocturnal wanderings in the streets. [5] Two of the women are stealing Tom's watch. [5] In the doorway a female street singer makes an appearance. [4]

A Rake's Progress, Plate 3, The Tavern Scene, engraving with etching, 1735 William Hogarth - A Rake's Progress, Plate 3, The Tavern Scene - Google Art Project.jpg
A Rake's Progress, Plate 3, The Tavern Scene, engraving with etching, 1735

On one of the walls, hangs a world map and framed prints of among others the Roman emperors Augustus, Titus, Otho, Vitellius and Vespasian. [5] [6]

Provenance

The eight paintings in the series were sold by William Beckford at an auction at Christie's in 1802 for 570 guineas to John Soane. They then hung at Soane's country house Pitzhanger Manor, and from 1810 in Soane's town house in Lincoln's Inn Fields. [7] The Brothel painting scene and the other seven paintings in the series are available in the picture gallery in the city residence, now converted to Sir John Soane's Museum. [8] [9]

Opera

Hogarth's picture suite has been used as the basis for the English opera The Rake's Progress , with libretto by W.H. Auden and Chester Kallman and with music by Igor Stravinsky. Stravinsky had noted William Hogarth's pictures at an exhibition in Chicago in 1947, and got the idea to write an opera on the theme. [10]

See also

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William Hogarth was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects", and he is perhaps best known for his series A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress and Marriage A-la-Mode. Knowledge of his work is so pervasive that satirical political illustrations in this style are often referred to as "Hogarthian".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Genre art</span> Art genre that depicts scenes from everyday life

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The Rake's Progress is an English-language opera from 1951 in three acts and an epilogue by Igor Stravinsky. The libretto, written by W. H. Auden and Chester Kallman, is based loosely on the eight paintings and engravings A Rake's Progress (1733–1735) of William Hogarth, which Stravinsky had seen on 2 May 1947, in a Chicago exhibition.

A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–1734, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series shows the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, the spendthrift son and heir of a rich merchant, who comes to London, wastes all his money on luxurious living, prostitution and gambling, and as a consequence is imprisoned in the Fleet Prison and ultimately Bethlem Hospital (Bedlam). The original paintings are in the collection of Sir John Soane's Museum in London, where they are normally on display for a short period each day.

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References

  1. Einberg, Elizabeth (2016). William Hogarth: A Complete Catalogue of the Paintings. Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. pp. 74–81. ISBN   9780300221749.
  2. Bindman, David (1981). Hogarth . Thames and Hudson. ISBN   9780500201824.
  3. "The Picture Room". www.soane.org. 1 May 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  4. 1 2 "Hogarth: Hogarth's Modern Moral Series. The Rake's Progress". Tate. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  5. 1 2 3 ""Rake's Progress" by William Hogarth original copperplate engravings, a full set!". www.darvillsrareprints.com. Archived from the original on 20 March 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  6. "A Rake's Progress (plate 3)". Europeana Collections. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  7. Darley, Gillian (1999). John Soane: An Accidental Romantic. Yale University Press. pp. 81, 148, 281. ISBN   9780300086959.
  8. "Hogarth: Place and Progress". www.soane.org. 4 March 2019. Retrieved 13 October 2019.
  9. "Collections Online". collections.tepapa.govt.nz. Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.
  10. Griffiths, Paul; Stravinsky, Igor; Craft, Robert; Josipovici, Gabriel (1982). Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress . Cambridge University Press. ISBN   9780521281997. Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress.