Hogarth's Marriage-à-la-mode
The 'morning' after
William Hogarth, Marriage-à-la-mode, Plate 2, 1745, etching and engraving, Drawings, Paintings and Prints Collection, Alexander Turnbull Library, Reference: D-020-047
The 'morning' after
The newly married couple recuperate in their extravagantly decorated London home after a night of debauchery. The husband slumps in his chair, exhausted. Dishevelment is one of the few qualities he shares with his wife. She stretches and yawns, the upturned chair in the foreground suggesting that she did not spend the night at home alone. Their aristocratic life is shown to revolve around the empty and ultimately unfulfilling pursuit of sensual pleasures and luxury goods.
The devil is in the detail
A small terrier sniffs at the bonnet that slips from the husband's pocket. The wife is wearing her bonnet, suggesting that the dog has discovered the garments of another woman – evidence of an infidelity. The husband's indifference to his wife leaves him unable to see the signs of her own infidelity.
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