Label Type
Cultural/Historical ContextLabel
"A Rake's Progress, Plate 2
William Hogarth, English, 1697-1764
Engraving
Gift of Prof. William A. McGill, 2001.10.04.02
“Tom's transition from a bourgeois life style to an aristocratic one, prodigal and inappropriate, is complete. The miser's dreary room has been replaced by a grand house, bright, spacious and fully appointed; here, at his morning reception, Tom receives—not his noblemen peers—but commercial people, each representing a separate aristocratic vice, affectation or entertainment.
In the center of these tradesmen stands Tom, dressed in a fashionable morning gown, giving his attention to a professional assassin; in his hand he holds a letter reading, Sr. the Capt. is a Man of Honour. his Sword may Serve you yrs. Wm. Stab. The grim-faced mercenary stands with one hand on his weapon and the other over his heart in an affectedly earnest profession of honor. Beside him a huntsman, one hand wearily in his pocket, sounds his horn impatiently. Below the rake a jockey displays a trophy won by his master's horse inscribe, Won at Epsom/ Silly Tom.
On the left a French dancing instructor and a fencing master perform ostentatiously before their employer. In contrast to their artificial vivacity two stolid Englishmen stand in the background; both wear defeated looks on their faces that signal a consciousness of the disadvantages of their position in the presence of voguish foreign competition. At the harpsichord a figure (perhaps Handel) plays The Rape of the Sabines. a New Opera. The ""Performers"" are famous contemporary foreigners. Romulos Sen: Fari[nel]i 1 Ravisher Sen: Sen[esi]no no2 Ravisher Sen: Car[esto]ne 3 Ravisher Sen: Coz-n Sabine Women Senra: Str-dr. Senra: Ne-gr Senra: Ber[tol]le. Hogarth's title, The Rape of the Sabines, is a hit at the paradoxical combination of castrati and promiscuous women in the cast.
Behind the harpsichordist's chair another testament to the rake's taste for the foreign reads, A List of the rich Presents Signor Farinelli the Italian Singer Condescended to Accept of ye English Nobility & Gentry for one Nights Performance in the Opera Artaxerses — a pair of Diamond Knee Buckles Presented by — a Diamond Ring by — A Bank Note enclosed in a Rich Gold case by — A Gold Snuff box Chace'd with the Story of Orpheus Charming ye Brutes by T: Rakewell Esq: 100[£] 20[o£] 100[£]. On the floor at the dancing master's feet lies a title page inscribed A Poem dedicated to T. Rakewell Esq; it pictures Farinelli on a pedestal before a group of women crying in homage, One G-d, one Farinelli; two hearts burn below the singer.
In the wing, another passel of tradesmen wait; they include a milliner, tailor, wigmaker and a poet (who tries to separate himself from the commercial people). The Judgment of Paris, a technically inept picture of foreign manufacture passed off on the rake as a masterpiece, is surrounded tastelessly by pictures of the rake's gamecocks.”
From Sean Shesgreen, Engravings by Hogarth
Alternate label:
Surrounded by Artists and Professors
Plate 2: The young aristocrat has set himself up
in fine furnishings. On his left stands 'William Stab',
a paid bodyguard and mercenary. Beside him a
huntsman is playing his loud horn. To Rakewell's
right is a foppish French dance master and a
fencing master.
To the left corner sits a figure at the harpsichord
playing Handel's new opera, The Rape of the Sabines.
It has been assumed by some Hogarth scholars that
this figure is Handel himself. On the back of his
chair is a ridiculously long list of Rakewell's foreign
purchases. Finally, in the background, another
grouping of tradesmen wait to serve the wealthy
aristocrat. a
Wealth, however, brings neither art nor taste.
On the back wall hangs a newly purchased and
quite hideous painting depicting the Judgment of
Paris. It is flanked by an unlikely pair of pictures of
gamecocks."