A copy in reverse of William Hogarth’s Plate 3 of A harlot’s progress: In a shabby room in Drury Lane; Moll Hackabout is shown having risen late (the watch shows 11:45), attended by a serving-woman who has lost part of her nose to syphilis; in the background, the magistrate, John Gonson, enters quietly with officers to arrest her; pinned to the window frame are two portrait prints of the hero and heroines of “The Beggar’s Opera”, Captain Mackheath and Polly Peacham, (Polly replaces Dr. Sacheverell in Hogarth’s print), the wig-box of James Dalton, highwayman, sits above the bed, and one of several beer tankards on the floor carries the name of a Drury Lane tavern. A kitten plays at Moll’s feet. A copy of Bishop Gibson’s “Pastoral Letter to …” serves as a butter dish. Above the window on the left is a print after a Titian painting depicting the angel staying the hand of Abraham as he is about to slay Isaac. Medicine bottles on the window sill suggest that Molly is already ill with the disease that will later kill her.
- Title: A harlot’s progress. Plate III [graphic] : The compleat trull at her lodgings in Drury Lane = Elle est reduite à la misère dans son logement de Drury Lane / invented & painted by Wm. Hogarth.
- Publication: [London] : [publisher not identified], [not before 25 March 1768]
Hogarth 768.03.25.11+ Box 210
Acquired December 2019
Copy in reverse of the first state of Plate 4 of Hogarth’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ (Paulson 135): In this scene two baliffs, one with an arrest notice in his hand, have stopped Tom Rakewell’s sedan chair in St. James’s Street; Tom is presumably on his way to White’s gaming house which can be seen in the background. They are foiled in their attempt to arrest Tom for debt as Sarah Young, the young woman whom he had seduced and abandoned, offers the bailiffs her purse instead. Sarah is now a dealer in millinery as is suggested by the notions falling from her purse. In the right foreground a shoe-black apparently taking advantage of the situation to take hold of Tom’s elegant walking stick. Above them a careless lamplighter spills some oil on Tom’s head. To the left a Welshman, probably the creditor, honouring St David’s day (March 1st) with a leek in his hat, accompanied by his manicured dog, simply watches the scene. In the distance is the gate of St James’s Palace with a crowd of sedan-chairs approaching to celebrate the birthday of Queen Caroline.