William Hogarth

William Hogarth's original engraving, A Rake's Progress, Plate 2 depicts the interior of the second scene. It provides a direct contrast to that of the first scene. The young aristocrat, Tom Rakewell has set himself up in fine furnishings. On his left stands 'William Stab', a paid bodyguard and mercenary. Beside him a huntsman is playing his loud horn. To Tom Rakewell's right is a foppish French dance master and a fencing master. Behind them stand two dour faced Englishmen. Perhaps their expressions indicate that they are no much for their resplendent French competition.

To the left corner sits a figure at the harpsichord playing Handel's new opera, The Rape of the Sabines. It has been assumed by some Hogarth scholars that this figure is Handel himself. On the back of his chair is a ridiculously long list of Tom Rakewell's foreign purchases. Finally, in the background, another grouping of tradesmen wait to serve the wealthy aristocrat.

Wealth, however, brings neither art nor taste. On the back wall hangs a newly purchased and quite hideous painting depicting the Judgment of Paris. It is flanked by an unlikely pair of pictures of gamecocks. (The Tom Rakewells' of today hang giant canvases of abstract horrors on their walls as their consultants have stressed their artistic value.)

A Rake's Progress was first published by William Hogarth in 1735. Created several years after A Harlot's Progress, it chronicles many of the same vices and follies. But whereas Moll, the heroine of the earlier set, is a victim of society, the young, aristocratic 'hero', of A Rake's Progress, Tom Rakewell, is a victim of himself. In this series, Hogarth brilliantly satirizes the often useless and destructive character of Britain's ruling classes.

A Rake's Progress: Plate 2 (The young aristocrat, Tom Rakewell has set himself up in fine furnishings) was both designed and engraved by William Hogarth. This original engraving is printed upon early nineteenth century wove paper and with large, full margins as published by William Heath in 1822. It is a fine, original example of the satirical art created by the British artist, William Hogarth. A Rake's Progress: Plate 2; Paulson Catalogue #133, Fourth and Final State (Complete Set of Eight Original Engravings).