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1972-409,3, Print
A Harlot's Progress: Plate 1
1972-409,3, Print

A Harlot's Progress: Plate 1

Date1822
Designed and engraved by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)
OriginEngland, London
MediumEtching and line engraving
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1972-409,3
DescriptionLower margin reads: "A Harlot's Progress Plate 1./ W.m Hogarth inv.t pinx.t et sculpt"
Label TextA Harlot's Progress is a six-part series by William Hogarth was the first of his popular "modern moral subjects" which depicted current social ills and topics of great interest through visual narratives. A Harlot's Progress tells the story of Moll Hackabout, a young woman who is coerced or willingly enters into an ill-fated life of prostitution. In this first scene, which takes place in the yard of the Bell Inn, where coaches from north of London dropped off passengers or possibly a tavern by that name in Cheapside, Moll has just arrived from the countryside, possibly in hopes of finding a profession (she wears scissors and sewing implements from her apron). A note wrapped around the dead goose she is brought in a basket reads "To my Lofing cozen/ on Sems Stret London" referring to a cousin who has not come to meet her. Instead, she is greeted by a figure identified as Elizabeth Needham, a famous bawd of the time who sizes her up and propositions her. Standing in the door of the doorway is a figure identified as Colonel Francis Charteris, a gentleman by birth and a notorious womanizer who was condemned to hang for rape in 1730, but pardoned. A clergyman rides by on a horse, ignorant of the scene around him.

Though printed from Hogarth's original copperplate (with some strengthening), this print is from the James Heath edition, published after 1822. Hogarth's copperplates were re-used after his death by his widow, Jane until her death in 1789. They were sold to the print publisher John Boydell who published them until his death 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.