The Tête à Tête, from Marriage à la Mode

The Tête à Tête, from Marriage à la Mode. William Hogarth. c. 1743 C.E. Oil on canvas.

• BEST KNOWN FOR PRINTS, NOT PAINTINGS; MADE PAINTING TO SHOWCASE HIS PRINTS; BEGINNINGS OF INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE; PART OF SET OF SIX PAINTINGS
• WIDENING MIDDLE CLASS FOCUSED ON ART; ART BECAME A COMMODITY; MERCHANT CLASS BECOMING POWERFUL; ART PREVIOUSLY SERVED THE ARISTOCRACY, PRINCES, MONARCHS, THE CHURCH; APPEALS TO MIDDLE CLASS, MAKES FUN OF ARISTOCRACY
• 18TH CENTURY MARRIAGES WERE OFTEN ARRANGED FOR ECONOMICAL/SOCIAL BENEFIT RATHER THAN LOVE; EXCHANGE OF TITLE AND WEALTH; TELL STORY OF ARISTOCRATIC FAMILY
• HUSBAND HAS COME FROM A NIGHT OF PARTYING, DRINKING, WOMANIZING; WOMAN’S BONNET IN HIS POCKET; WIFE HAS HAD FUN OF HER WHILE HE WAS GONE; HER BODICE IS UNDONE, LOVER HAS JUST LEFT
•  LOVEMAKING HAS TAKEN PLACE, CHAIR FALLEN OVER; MUSIC WAS A TRADITIONAL SYMBOL OF PLEASURE
• PAINTINGS OF SAINTS AND ANGELS; HOGARTH JUDGES HER; MAN CAN’T CONVINCE THEM TO TAKE THEIR FINANCES SERIOUSLY; CRITICISM OF ARISTOCRACY’S CLASSISM; ARTWORK IN BACKGROUND COMMENTS ON THE SCENE
• TURNED OVER CHAIR SHOWS VIOLIN PLAYER (SECRET LOVER) HAS MADE A RETREAT