Visual: Hogarth’s “Marriage Contract” shows a group of individuals who are presumably involved in the negotiations of a wedding. The work is done with rather bright colors, and the figures almost have a slightly cartoonish look to them. Two older, distinguished looking gentlemen are sitting on opposite sides of a round table to the right side of the work, and each has paperwork in their immediate vicinity. To the far left of the work is an image of a man in blue robes staring at himself in a mirror. Directly over his left shoulder, a woman is sitting in a white dress, while another man leans down close to her ear, presumably speaking to her. The background consists of a green wall that is covered by a number of large paintings. Two dogs are chained together in the bottom left of the work.

Context: According to artofprint.com (http://www.artoftheprint.com/artistpages/hogarth_william_marriagealamodecompletesetofsix.htm) and the information that we were given in our lecture, the work represents Hogarth’s highly satirical view of bureaucratic weddings, and can be expanded to the bureaucracy in general. Evidently, the father of the groom is allowing his son to be married to an un-titled bride in a rush attempt to secure funds to complete the construction of his mansion, which can be seen out of a window just above the heads of the two fathers. While it is extremely difficult to link Hogarth’s Marriage A La Mode to any particular movement, it can be generally stated that he took advantage of satire as a tool to critique the activities of those at the top of the hierarchy.

Subjective: I can honestly say that I really enjoy Hogarth’s entire series of work done under the title of Marriage A La Mode. I personally enjoy the clear and colorful painting style that he uses to illustrate his works, as well as the slightly cartoonish feel of the colors and bodies. In addition, once I was told the story that the work was intended to purvey, I enjoyed contemplating the entire idea of the work far more than I would if it were done in a less satirical style. As I mentioned in my blog, I was somewhat shocked by the edginess of both this work, as well as some of Fragonard’s raunchy works.