1/14/2024 0 Comments Supreme courtship sparknotes![]() He is presumably well aware of what it will cost him to marry his daughter to the Earl’s son. He wears his gold chain of office as an Alderman of the City of London and a sword, which sticks out from between his legs in an ungainly fashion. He is dressed respectably but not fashionably and is clearly ill at ease. Meanwhile the bride’s father peers through his spectacles at the contract. He is self-interested and vain and rests his gouty foot on the footstool. The Earl’s eagerness to display the coronet that decorates his bed, crutches, footstool and his picture frames suggests that his family is not really of the old aristocracy. However, he seems to suggest that money is nothing compared to what he has to offer: he points to his family tree going back to William the Conqueror with one hand while resting the other on his heart, which pumps with noble blood. The unfinished house seen through the window – of a preposterous design that breaks all architectural rules – suggests that the Earl’s resources are strained. The Alderman’s family will acquire an aristocratic title through the marriage the Earl will get his hands on ready cash, which has already been emptied out from the money bags onto the table. In the centre of the scene is the marriage settlement – a large parchment document in the Alderman’s hands. ![]() He is negotiating the marriage of his son to the daughter of a rich Alderman of the City of London. The Earl of Squander is receiving guests in the bedroom of his town house his canopied bed with a coronet on top is in the corner. They were painted to be engraved and then sold after the engravings were finished. This is the first in Hogarth’s series of six paintings titled Marriage A-la-Mode which satirise the upper classes.
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