Marriage à-la-mode: 3. The Inspection

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Marriage à-la-mode: 3. The Inspection
Marriage A-la-Mode 3, The Inspection - William Hogarth.jpg
Artist William Hogarth
Year1743
MediumOil on canvas
Dimensions69.9 cm× 90.8 cm(27.5 in× 35.7 in)
LocationNational Gallery, London

The Inspection is the third canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.

William Hogarth English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist

William Hogarth FRSA was an English painter, printmaker, pictorial satirist, social critic, and editorial cartoonist. His work ranged from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like series of pictures called "modern moral subjects", perhaps best known being his moral 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".

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The viscount, suffering from syphilis, makes a visit to a French doctor.

A viscount or viscountess is a title used in certain European countries for a noble of varying status. In many countries a viscount, and its historical equivalents, was a non-hereditary, administrative or judicial position, and did not develop into an hereditary title until much later. In the case of French viscounts, it is customary to leave the title untranslated as vicomte[vi.kɔ̃t] and vicomtesse.

Syphilis sexually transmitted infection

Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents. The primary stage classically presents with a single chancre but there may be multiple sores. In secondary syphilis, a diffuse rash occurs, which frequently involves the palms of the hands and soles of the feet. There may also be sores in the mouth or vagina. In latent syphilis, which can last for years, there are few or no symptoms. In tertiary syphilis, there are gummas, neurological problems, or heart symptoms. Syphilis has been known as "the great imitator" as it may cause symptoms similar to many other diseases.

Details

A Harlot's Progress is a series of six paintings and engravings (1732) by the English artist William Hogarth. The series shows the story of a young woman, M. Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute. The series was developed from the third image. After painting a prostitute in her boudoir in a garret on Drury Lane, Hogarth struck upon the idea of creating scenes from her earlier and later life. The title and allegory are reminiscent of John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress.

Hermaphrodite organism with both male and female reproductive organs

In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has complete or partial reproductive organs and produces gametes normally associated with both male and female sexes. Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which either partner can act as the "female" or "male." For example, the great majority of tunicates, pulmonate snails, opisthobranch snails, earthworms and slugs are hermaphrodites. Hermaphroditism is also found in some fish species and to a lesser degree in other vertebrates. Most plants are also hermaphrodites.

Jacobean era period in English and Scottish culture corresponding to the reign of James VI and I

The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of James VI of Scotland (1567–1625), who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I. The Jacobean era succeeds the Elizabethan era and precedes the Caroline era, and is often used for the distinctive styles of Jacobean architecture, visual arts, decorative arts, and literature which characterized that period.

Commentary

See also

Other paintings in the Marriage à-la-mode series

<i>Marriage à-la-mode: 2. The Tête à Tête</i> painting by William Hogarth

The Tête à Tête is the second canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode, painted by William Hogarth.

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Murray Head British actor and singer

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Georg Christoph Lichtenberg German scientist, satirist

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<i>Marriage A-la-Mode</i> (Hogarth) series of six paintings by William Hogarth

Marriage A-la-Mode is a series of six pictures painted by William Hogarth between 1743 and 1745 depicting a pointed skewering of upper class 18th century society. This moralistic warning shows the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money and satirises patronage and aesthetics. The pictures are exhibited in the National Gallery, London.

John Misaubin British doctor

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<i>Industry and Idleness</i> series of engravings

Industry and Idleness is the title of a series of 12 plot-linked engravings created by William Hogarth in 1747, intending to illustrate to working children the possible rewards of hard work and diligent application and the sure disasters attending a lack of both. Unlike his earlier works, such as A Harlot's Progress (1731) and Marriage à-la-mode (1743), which were painted first and subsequently converted to engravings, Industry and Idleness was created solely as a set of engravings. Each of the prints was sold for 1 shilling each so 12 for the entire set, which is equivalent in purchasing power to approximately 80 GBP as of 2005. It may be assumed that these prints were aimed for a wider and less wealthy market than his earlier works. The originals currently reside at the British Museum.

<i>Four Times of the Day</i> A series of four paintings by English artist William Hogarth

Four Times of the Day is a series of four oil paintings by English artist William Hogarth. Completed in 1736, they were reproduced as a series of four engravings published in 1738. They are humorous depictions of life in the streets of London, the vagaries of fashion, and the interactions between the rich and poor. Unlike many of Hogarth's other series, such as A Harlot's Progress, A Rake's Progress, Industry and Idleness, and The Four Stages of Cruelty, it does not depict the story of an individual, but instead focuses on the society of the city. Hogarth intended the series to be humorous rather than instructional; the pictures do not offer a judgment on whether the rich or poor are more deserving of the viewer's sympathies: while the upper and middle classes tend to provide the focus for each scene, there are fewer of the moral comparisons seen in some of his other works. Their dimensions are about 74 cm (29 in) by 61 cm (24 in) each.

<i>Marriage à-la-mode: 1. The Marriage Settlement</i> painting by William Hogarth

The Marriage Settlement is the first in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.

<i>Marriage à-la-mode: 4. The Toilette</i> painting by William Hogarth

The Toilette, called The countess’s morning levee by Hogarth himself, is the fourth canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage A-la-Mode painted by William Hogarth.

<i>Marriage à-la-mode: 5. The Bagnio</i> painting by William Hogarth

The Bagnio is the fifth canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.

<i>Marriage à-la-mode: 6. The Ladys Death</i> painting by William Hogarth

The Lady's Death is the sixth and final canvas in the series of satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.

<i>Characters and Caricaturas</i>

Characters and Caricaturas is an engraving by English artist William Hogarth, that he produced as the subscription ticket for his 1743 series of prints, Marriage à-la-mode, and which was eventually issued as a print in its own right. Critics had sometimes dismissed the exaggerated features of Hogarth's characters as caricature and, by way of an answer, he produced this picture filled with characterisations accompanied by a simple illustration of the difference between characterisation and caricature.

<i>The Bench</i> (Hogarth) painting by William Hogarth

The Bench is the title of both a 1758 oil-on-canvas painting by the English artist William Hogarth, and a print issued by him in the same year. Unlike many of Hogarth's engravings produced from painted originals, the print differs considerably from the painting. It was intended as a demonstration of the differences between character painting, caricature and outré—developing on the theme he had begun to address in Characters and Caricaturas —but Hogarth was unhappy with the result as it showed only "characters", and he continued to work on the piece until his death.

<i>The Enraged Musician</i>

The Enraged Musician is a 1741 etching and engraving by English artist William Hogarth which depicts a comic scene of a violinist driven to distraction by the cacophony outside his window. It was issued as companion piece to the third state of his print of The Distrest Poet.

<i>Beer Street</i> and <i>Gin Lane</i> two prints by William Hogarth

Beer Street and Gin Lane are two prints issued in 1751 by English artist William Hogarth in support of what would become the Gin Act. Designed to be viewed alongside each other, they depict the evils of the consumption of gin as a contrast to the merits of drinking beer. At almost the same time and on the same subject, Hogarth's friend Henry Fielding published An Inquiry into the Late Increase in Robbers. Issued together with The Four Stages of Cruelty, the prints continued a movement started in Industry and Idleness, away from depicting the laughable foibles of fashionable society and towards a more cutting satire on the problems of poverty and crime.

References

  1. Lichtenberg, Georg (January 1798). "1". In Wensinger, Arthur S. and W. B. Coley. Hogarth on High Life (1 ed.). Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press. p. 57. The Doctor's collection, commenting as it does both historically and prophetically on his career, might be interpreted as follows: he began as a beard trimmer; graduated to piss-analyst; barely skirting the gallows (by virtue of his curative powers) he grabbed for himself a doctor's hat; and is now counting on a knighthood, if he has not one alreadyCheck date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)