JPG - Current Image
PDF - Current Image & Data

The Toilet (Primary Title)
Marriage A La Mode (Series Title)
The Toilet Scene (Former Title)

William Hogarth, English, 1697 - 1764 (Artist)

1745
English
Works On Paper
Prints
etching and engraving on heavy laid paper
European Art
Sheet (Trimmed to plate line): 15 11/16 × 18 1/2 in. (39.85 × 46.99 cm)
Image: 14 × 17 5/8 in. (35.56 × 44.77 cm)
Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 60.96 cm)
67.32.4
Not on view
In this scene of the bride’s private chamber, a coronet above the bed announces that she has become a countess. The child’s teething coral hanging from her chair indicates that she is a mother as well. Despite her change in status, she is still enraptured by the lawyer Silvertongue, who hands her an invitation to a masquerade. The picture directly above her head refers to an erotic Renaissance painting, Jupiter and Io by Correggio.
Printed beneath image, lower left: "Invented Painted & Published by Wm. Hogarth"; lower right: "Engraved by S. Ravenet/ According to Act of Parliament April 1st. 1745"; lower center: "Marriage A-la-Mode, Plate IV." Inscribed in graphite on verso: "Paulson 231 III/ 3"
The Council Graphic Arts Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.