Search
Skip to main content
The Rake's Progress, Plate 8

The Rake's Progress, Plate 8

Artist/Maker (English, 1697–1764)
Author (British, 1711–1776)
DateJune 25, 1735
MediumEtching and engraving
DimensionsImage: 14 1/8 × 16 1/8 in. (35.8 × 41 cm)
Sheet: 18 9/16 × 24 13/16 in. (47.2 × 63 cm)
Credit LineAnnie A. Wager Bequest
PortfolioThe Rake's Progress
Object number1975.210
Status
Not on view
More Information
In a set of prints reproducing his own paintings, Hogarth recounts a tale of corruption and self-destruction. A youth, having inherited the fortune of his miserly father, embarks on a path of rapid social ascent. The Rake is profligate and spends his newfound fortune, initially on the trappings of a wealthy gentleman, and then later upon whores and in taverns, where it is quickly lost, stolen, or gambled away. The print shows the Rake in his last days, as a raving madman in London’s famous Bedlam Hospital. Although Bedlam was celebrated for its clean, open spaces and its success at rehabilitating two-thirds of its patients, here it appears to be a chaotic site for men and women with disturbed fantasies. Patients are hardly soothed or uplifted by restorative surroundings. Hogarth’s series promises social healing by calling attention to the frivolity, cruelty, and superficiality of both aristocrats and those who ape them.
Exhibition History
Eighteenth-Century English Prints
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (June 19, 1987 - July 19, 1987 )
'A more new way of proceeding': Representation and Narrative in the Art of William Hogarth
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (March 23, 1995 - May 29, 1995 )
A Picture of Health: Art and the Mechanisms of Healing
  • Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin, OH (February 2, 2016 - May 29, 2016 )
Collections
  • European
This record was created from historic documentation and may not have been reviewed by a curator. Noticed a mistake? Have some extra information about this object? Please contact us.