Fine Art Poster
From $39
A giclée print on 200gsm matte fine art paper, using a twelve-colour process for accurate, fade-resistant colour. Supplied unframed, delivered flat or rolled.
The Rake's Progress, Plate 5: The Marriage of the Rake - William Hogarth
Regular price
$39.00 USD
Sale price
$39.00 USD
Regular price
Archival giclée
Frames arrive ready to hang
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Made to order
Description
A satirical engraving from William Hogarth's The Rake's Progress, depicting the mercenary marriage of Tom Rakewell in a decaying church.
This engraving is the fifth scene in William Hogarth's celebrated moral series, The Rake's Progress. It depicts the protagonist, Tom Rakewell, marrying a wealthy, elderly, and one-eyed woman in the dilapidated St Marylebone Church. The scene is a biting commentary on the mercenary nature of marriage in eighteenth-century London, where Rakewell seeks to restore his squandered fortune through a union devoid of affection.
Hogarth fills the composition with symbolic details that mock the couple. The church is in a state of decay, mirroring the moral bankruptcy of the ceremony. In the background, a woman and her child, presumably Rakewell's abandoned mistress, attempt to enter the church, adding a layer of social critique regarding his treatment of those he has wronged. The presence of two dogs, one of which mimics the posture of the couple, serves as a visual pun on the nature of the union. The clergyman, oblivious to the surrounding chaos, continues the service with mechanical indifference.
The artist's technical skill is evident in the precise line work and the careful arrangement of figures within the cramped interior. Hogarth uses the medium of printmaking to reach a wide audience, ensuring his social observations were accessible beyond the elite circles of the art world. The inscription at the bottom of the plate provides a poetic summary of the scene, reinforcing the theme that gold can mask deformity and unite youth with age. This work remains a primary example of Hogarth's ability to blend narrative storytelling with sharp, observational humour. It captures the specific social anxieties of the Georgian era, focusing on the intersection of class, money, and personal morality.
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Because every print is made to order, we don't offer change-of-mind returns, refunds or exchanges. If your order arrives faulty, damaged or incorrect, we'll replace it free of charge — just contact us within 48 hours of delivery. See our refunds page for full details.
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Manufacturing
Each print is produced to order using 12-colour giclée printing on FSC-certified archival paper. Designed in Britain and printed at your nearest production hub to reduce waste and speed up delivery.
Care and materials
Specific Features
Every Solis piece is made to order with archival, gallery-quality materials built to last.
- Museum-grade giclée printing for rich, fade-resistant colour
- Archival matte fine-art paper, FSC-certified
- Multiple sizes and framing options available
- Frames in black, natural wood, dark wood or white
- Framed prints arrive ready to hang
Care & Cleaning
To keep your artwork looking its best:
- Dust gently with a soft, dry cloth
- Avoid prolonged direct sunlight
- Never use liquid cleaners on the print or canvas surface
- Keep in a dry, room-temperature space
- Handle prints with clean, dry hands
Materials & Sizing
Museum-grade giclée on FSC-certified archival matte paper, with framed and canvas options.
- Paper sizes: A4, A3, A2, A1, A0 and B2 (50×70 cm)
- Canvas: XS (20×30 cm) to Large (60×90 cm)
- Frames: black, natural wood, dark wood or white
Complete The Look
The Rake's Progress, Plate 5: The Marriage of the Rake - William Hogarth
Regular price
From $39.00 USD
Sale price
From $39.00 USD
Regular price
Fine Art Poster / Small Square (30x30 cm) / -
Artist Biography
William Hogarth
Hogarth invented the comic strip three hundred years early. A Rake's Progress (1733) and A Harlot's Progress (1732) are narrative sequences of paintings and prints that tell moral stories through sequential images, each one packed with visual detail that rewards close reading. The drunk in the tavern, the debtor in prison, the madman in Bedlam: each scene is a chapter. Together they form a novel in pictures.
He was born in Smithfield, London, near the meat market. His father, a schoolteacher, was imprisoned for debt when William was a child. The experience of debtors' prison appears throughout his work. He apprenticed to a silver engraver and taught himself painting by copying old masters and observing London street life with the attention of a novelist.
He was shrewd about money and copyright. The Engraving Copyright Act of 1735 ('Hogarth's Act') was passed largely through his lobbying. It gave printmakers legal ownership of their designs for the first time, preventing pirated copies. He was protecting his income: the popular prints were his main revenue source.
He painted portraits, historical scenes, and the extraordinary Shrimp Girl, an unfinished head study of a street vendor that anticipates Impressionism by a century. The brushwork is loose, fresh, and immediate. It does not look like anything else painted in the 1740s. He also wrote The Analysis of Beauty (1753), a treatise on aesthetics that argued beauty derived from serpentine lines, which was mocked but was not wrong.
He died in 1764, at sixty-six. He is buried in Chiswick, west London. His tomb has a modest inscription. His influence on British satirical art, from Gillray to Banksy, has no inscription and no end.
He was born in Smithfield, London, near the meat market. His father, a schoolteacher, was imprisoned for debt when William was a child. The experience of debtors' prison appears throughout his work. He apprenticed to a silver engraver and taught himself painting by copying old masters and observing London street life with the attention of a novelist.
He was shrewd about money and copyright. The Engraving Copyright Act of 1735 ('Hogarth's Act') was passed largely through his lobbying. It gave printmakers legal ownership of their designs for the first time, preventing pirated copies. He was protecting his income: the popular prints were his main revenue source.
He painted portraits, historical scenes, and the extraordinary Shrimp Girl, an unfinished head study of a street vendor that anticipates Impressionism by a century. The brushwork is loose, fresh, and immediate. It does not look like anything else painted in the 1740s. He also wrote The Analysis of Beauty (1753), a treatise on aesthetics that argued beauty derived from serpentine lines, which was mocked but was not wrong.
He died in 1764, at sixty-six. He is buried in Chiswick, west London. His tomb has a modest inscription. His influence on British satirical art, from Gillray to Banksy, has no inscription and no end.
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Fine Art Framed
From $119
The same fine art print in a solid wood frame with UV-protective acrylic glaze and rigid backing. Five frame colours. Arrives ready to hang.
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