A Rake’s Progress (1735)

William Hogarth’s remarkable series, A Rake’s Progress (1735), comprises eight satirical paintings that depict a riches-to-rags tale of Tom Rakewell in 18th-century London. Rakewell is shown inheriting a fortune, embarking on a profligate lifestyle in fashionable London, and ultimately succumbing to financial ruin and madness.

This morality tale was purchased by Sir John Soane in 1802 for £598.10 from the auction house Christie’s to hang at Pitzhanger, alongside Soane’s growing collection of art and antiquities, ranging from the ancient to the contemporary. The Soanes subsequently moved their art collections to Lincoln’s Inn Fields. However, Pitzhanger continues to display a full series of framed 18th-century engravings of A Rake’s Progress in their original setting on the vibrant red walls of the Soane’s drawing room.

These paintings have more recently inspired Grayson Perry’s A Vanity of Small Differences, a contemporary re-reading of A Rake’s Progress. Visitors to the Perry exhibition will be in the unique position to compare and contrast both intricately detailed morality tales in the home of Hogarth’s series.

Categories   Pitzhanger Manor

Tags   Art History William Hogarth

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