A Rake's Progress, Plate 5

Date1735

Designed and engraved by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)

MediumEtching and line engraving on laid paper

DimensionsOverall: 17 1/2 × 23in. (44.5 × 58.4cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1967-566,5

DescriptionLower margin reads: "New to y.e School of hard Mishap,/ Driven from y.e Ease of Fortune's Lap/ What Shames will Nature not embrace,/ T'avoid less Shame of lean Distress?/ Gold can the Charms of youth bestow,/ And mask Deformity with Shew;/ Gold can avert y.e Sting of Shame, / In Winter's Arms creat a Flame,/ Can couple youth with hoary Age,/ And make Antipathies engage./ Invented Painted & Engrav'd by W.m Hogarth & Publish'd June y.e 25 1735. According to Act of Parliament./ Plate 5."
Label TextThis is the fifth scene of one of William Hogarth's most popular "Modern Moral Subjects”: " A Rake's Progress." With the popularity of 'A Harlot's Progress,' he commenced selling subscriptions in late 1733, but the prints were not completed until June, 1735. Part of this delay was the passage of the Engraver's Act, which was designed to prevent pirating of engraver's works. Hogarth waited until the act took effect on June 25th, 1735 - the date engraved on the prints - to publish the series. Despite his careful planning, pirated copies appeared on the market in early June apparently based on Hogarth's original paintings for the set, now in the collection of Sir John Soane's Museum.

Now in debt but accustomed to the luxury and wealth, in the fifth scene, Thomas Rakewell marries an elderly, one-eyed, rich widow to replenish his inheritance, which he has squandered. In the background, is former lover, Sarah Young (who as now given birth to their child) and her mother have burst into the church to protest the banns and attempt to prevent the marriage. The church, which is empty and in disrepair represents Old Marylebone Church which at the time was just outside of London and was known for conducting clandestine or hasty marriages.

This is state three of the print. Though printed from Hogarth's original copperplate (with some strengthening), this print is part of the Boydell edition published after 1790. Hogarth's copperplates were re-used after his death by his widow, Jane until her death in 1789. They were sold to the print publishers John and Josiah Boydell who published until the Boydell sale in 1818. In 1822, James Heath was in possession of the plates and published at least four bound editions of the plates. For more, see Ronald Paulson, Hogarth's Graphic Works, Third Revised Edition (London: Print Room, 1989), pp. 20-21.

For more of the set see 1967-556, 1-8.