A Harlot's Progress: Plate 2

Date1822

Designed and engraved by William Hogarth (1697 - 1764)

MediumEtching with line engraving

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1972-409,4

DescriptionLower margin reads: "Plate 2. / W.m Hogarth inv.t pinx.t et sculp.t"
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 second scene, Moll Hackabout is now the mistress of a wealthy Jewish merchant* and the scene takes place in what is presumed to be his home. She's and takes place possibly in the home of a wealthy Jewish merchant who keeps her as his mistress. She has overturned the tea table to distract the merchant while her lover sneaks out of the room. Also present is a young black boy in page dress which suggests that his wealth has connections with transatlantic or Colonial trade. The monkey, wearing a bonnet is a metaphor for Moll, who with her new fashionable and luxurious surroundings is merely (and unsuccessfully) "aping" her betters. A mask on her dressing table suggest she's been attending masquarade balls which were often associated with prostitution.

(This has been deduced by scholars based on the Old Testament paintings and an inscription on King George II's copy which identifies him as a "London Jew." See Ronald Paulson and William Hogarth, Hogarth's Graphic Works, Third Revised Edition (London: Print Room, 1989), p. 78-79, #122)