The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1

1745

Gérard Jean-Baptiste Scotin II

(French, 1698–1760)

after William Hogarth

(British, 1697–1764)
England, 18th century
Etching and engraving
Image: 35 x 44.5 cm (13 3/4 x 17 1/2 in.); Plate: 38.2 x 46.8 cm (15 1/16 x 18 7/16 in.); Sheet: 46.4 x 57.5 cm (18 1/4 x 22 5/8 in.)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Curtiss Rose 1959.311.1
Catalogue raisonné: Burke and Caldwell 193; Paulson 228
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Objects and paintings in the background of William Hogarth’s compositions often echo or comment on the central narrative being depicted.

Description

William Hogarth bitingly satirized the follies of Enlightenment high society in Marriage à la Mode, a print series whose title roughly translates as “marriage in the current fashion.” The series follows the story of an incompatible marriage arranged for financial and social gain. Here, the impoverished Earl of Squander gestures to his exalted family tree as he haggles over the marriage contract between his son and a wealthy alderman’s daughter. Uninvolved in the negotiations, the young couple sit side by side completely uninterested in each other. While Viscount Squanderfield gazes at his reflection, his bride-to-be listens to the flirtatious lawyer, Silvertongue, with whom she will later conduct an affair.
  • ?–1959
    Mr. and Mrs. Milton Rose, New York, NY, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    December 19, 1959–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Imagination in the Age of Reason. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 28, 2024-March 2, 2025).
  • {{cite web|title=The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1|url=false|author=Gérard Jean-Baptiste Scotin II, William Hogarth|year=1745|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.311.1