William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode (including Tête à Tête)

William Hogarth, Marriage A-la-Mode, c. 1743, oil on canvas, 69.9 x 90.8 cm (The National Gallery, London)
1. The Marriage Settlement
2. The Tête à Tête
3, The Inspection
4. The Toilette
5. The Bagnio
6. The Lady's Death
Speakers: Dr. Steven Zucker & Dr. Beth Harris. Created by Beth Harris and Steven Zucker.

[@Toastwig]

It's like an 18th century comic strip haha, cool!

[@hyekang3850]

Then as usual, make fuss to evacuate yourself from the air of heaviness being caught of your consicence and envy. The pattern of behaviour has been clearly noticed

[@bro1965]

At 8:50, the figure on the far left is identified as Counsellor Silvertounge. Silvertongue is actually the figure on the far right. The figure on the left is a castrato.

[@ProkofNY]

I was about to point out the same.

[@LulaS]

well spotted, we can easily recognise Silvertongue’s face from the 1st painting

[@scouseshamrock2513]

Now I can never trust the story now

[@TheNotBees]

This is not a very good video

[@kaunas88]

Yes, the video narration confused me.

[@peroz1000]

This series of paintings is so rich in symbolism that just one video cannot possibly do it justice!

[@hyekang3850]

::IP

[@Sasha0927]

We're blessed to live in a time where objects of reasonable quality can be afforded by so many.. But then you think of the world at large and remember how untrue that still manages to be. Such a bittersweet time to be alive. It's interesting that the wealthy merchant didn't get a name in the painting at all, but I guess, in this context especially, that was part of the point. This was fun to hear about. So many characters in a proper narrative - so much drama and shade! I enjoyed it. 🙂

[@smarthistoryvideos]

If you like the narratives, you will have plenty of them through the end of the 18th century, then they begin to be rejected in the 19th c paving the way for that thing we have come to know as modernism, all of which is an interesting sub theme in and of itself.

[@yokyu2lea]

Thank you so much for your work, you two describe painting so great, such interesting videos!

[@jimgordon6629]

What a genius! The commentary, as usual, is priceless and always insightful!

[@rabidrabbitshuggers]

This was a beautifully done summation and discussion! Thank you! ❤

[@julievanberkel3058]

Very interesting, thank you. I love Hogarth for his honesty and humor and lack of romanticism. I have 2 Hogarth prints myself.

[@rabidrabbitshuggers]

Lack of romanticism! Wonderfully put! I like to think of Hogarth as the Anti-Fragonard 😂

[@urielmartinez6279]

What a sharp contrast to Fragonard’s “the Swing”.

[@jimgordon6629]

I don’t know, I think that too depicts decadence, but Fragonard does appear to revel in the decadence

[@smarthistoryvideos]

Thank you, please note their is now a correction that was added to the video at that point.

[@Floaress]

This was great!

[@docmark205]

Wonderful!

[@KevinDixon]

This was so great.

[@KorKhan89]

I read somewhere that the flute player on the left in "the Toilette" is a reference to Frederick the Great, who was himself a keen flautist. The picture on the wall behind him of Zeus abducting Ganymede would have been a reference to Frederick's presumed homosexuality.

[@lawrencescales9864]

I know "silent flute" was slang back then for a penis, so very possible, lol.

[@haplessasshole9615]

The "opera singer" bears a close resemblance to famed castrato Francesco Bernardi, who used the stage name "Senesino."

[@hyekang3850]

The pattern of it never tells a lie in its frequencies no matter how cleverly manipulated its content is. I see the logic of truth gives a way to know things in countless claims. ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY FAIL TO ACHIEVE SOMETHING AS SOULFUL AND BEAUTIFUL AS WHAT THEY FEEL OR SEE THEY ALWAYS TRY TO CREATE NASTY STUFF TO UNDERESTIMATE IT. It does really feel like the last resort of sticky losers, please go away with your own past deeds ablazing in memories thanks

[@amandas.6982]

I believe there is a mistake. In the image In the Toilette, you identify the figure on the left as Silvertongue. However, I am fairly certain that Silvertounge is the figure (all the way to right), lounging on the couch and handing the wife (his lover) the tickets to the masked ball. You can tell because his attire does not change between this and the first image (the Marriage Settlement) of the series. It also makes sense that it would be Silvertongue giving the wife the tickets, since in The Bagnio they have clearly just come from the masked ball together. The person misidentified as Silvertongue seems to be one of the musicians... the singer, perhaps?

[@smarthistoryvideos]

Yes, that is correct. We misspoke and had added a corrective annotation sometime ago, perhaps KZbin removed it.

[@amandas.6982]

@@smarthistoryvideos Oh, hm! I did not see a corrective annotation but maybe I missed it. Thanks so much for responding, and for all that you guys do. I love your work so much.

[@hyekang3850]

That reminds me of those tremendous man and woman in such ragnarok complexity

[@CKM7VQ6W8A]

Thanks!

[@alfredoechevarrieta7512]

Gracias

[@LulaS]

Awesome comments, thanks a lot!

[@angelinapavlova6694]

so entertaining!

[@MrJingres]

I recognized Jupiter and Io by Correggio on the wall in The Toilette.

[@SubTroppo]

It reminds me of all those American heiresses who married into the penurious British aristocracy a century and a half or so later. Nancy Astor springs to mind, along with Winston Churchill's mother.

[@Boulevardier1]

I think in The Toilette that is a castrati singing on the left and Silvertongue to the lady's right. Love your video !

[@massimosquecco279]

Thank you for the explanations! Could never get the SOAs references.

[@hyekang3850]

And when even the words cannot help their miserable beings laugh their head off... .... for a second, then in that tremendous silence in your empty soul

[@loonylinda]

fascinating

[@300books]

The little girl at 10:55 seems to have a leg brace on her left leg. So the poor child is crippled and has syphilis?

[@a1exxx387]

such a bruh moment

[@tbwatch88]

read jenny uglow's biography. it is a masterpiece beYOND! thank you for this.

[@wojtekgall4766]

👍👍👍🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

[@cherriledbetter1120]

Reminds me of Norman Rockwell

[@dahuston89]

What is the name of the music in this video?

[@gayatri-ydkh]

David Huston it's in the captions in the end

[@Julia-lk8jn]

I was wondering when you were going to mention the black marks = syphilis element! The young had two such on the first image, which makes it doubly cruel that he'd marry a young woman who obviously would be infected. Not even to mention the damage done to any poor child of the two. Talking about ghastly: the anatomical model on the third plate could easily have been a human body flayed and shellacked; Koerperwelten is not as new an idea as one might think.

[@paranormaliiic.g.49jaracar76]

Lástima que no está en español.

[@SubTroppo]

There are sub-titles in Spanish or... Hay subtítulos en español (Google Translate).

[@DermNerd808]

Some of the Rotten boroughs poked at in these satires here had more animals for herding than people...

[@L-mo]

Prince Charles, listen up.

[@Itried20takennames]

From the American perspective, I don’t see the value in the title......just the merchant’s money

[@freddie7981]

The title would have inflated the merchant's reputation, and set him above other merchants. Probably more importantly, it would also have brought greatly increased political powers which the middling merchant lacked. Counts/Lords owned and juristricted over their own lands and had greater influence over their nation's rule.

[@isaactorres6705]

Im here because of 3 blind mice