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The Tete a Tete (Primary Title)
Marriage A La Mode (Series Title)
Breakfast 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 inside plate line): 15 1/4 × 18 1/8 in. (38.74 × 46.04 cm)
Image: 14 × 17 7/16 in. (35.56 × 44.29 cm)
Mat: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 60.96 cm)
67.32.2
Not on view
Seated together at breakfast, the couple has settled into married life with predictably disastrous results. Their expensive furnishings are in disarray, apparently the aftermath of a late-night party in the lavish home. The husband (or viscount) haspresumably spent the night out, most likely in a brothel, as indicated by the lady’s cap protruding from his pocket, which has not escaped notice of the small dog. The extravagant clock confirms that time is clearly running out for this couple!
Printed beneath image, lower left: "Invented Painted & Published by Wm. Hogarth"; lower right: "Engraved by B. Baron/ According to Act of Parliament April 1st. 1745"; lower center: "Marriage A-la-Mode, Plate II." Inscribed in graphite on verso: "Paulson 229 III ?/ 5"
The Council Graphic Arts Fund
Image released via Creative Commons CC-BY-NC

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