The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

William Hogarth bitingly satirized the follies of Enlightenment high society in Marriage à la Mode , a print series whose title roughly translates as “marriage in the current fashion.” The series follows the story of an incompatible marriage arranged for financial and social gain. Here, the impoverished Earl of Squander gestures to his exalted family tree as he haggles over the marriage contract between his son and a wealthy alderman’s daughter. Uninvolved in the negotiations, the young couple sit side by side completely uninterested in each other. While Viscount Squanderfield gazes at his reflection, his bride-to-be listens to the flirtatious lawyer, Silvertongue, with whom she will later conduct an affair. Objects and paintings in the background of William Hogarth’s compositions often echo or comment on the central narrative being depicted.