Copy (not reversed) of the first state of Plate 6th of Hogarth’s ‘The Rake’s Progress’ (Paulson 137): Interior of a gambling house in Covent Garden where Tom has fallen, raving, on one knee having lost his money at dice; behind him a chaotic group of gamblers, most of whom fail to notice that flames and smoke are pouring over the panelling and through the door (left); to right, a highwayman (a gun and mask in his pocket) sits beside the hearth ignoring a small boy who offers him a drink, on the wall is a handbill advertising “R. Tustian Card Maker” — British Museum online catalogue. On the lower left, a man is entering a note of a loan to Lord Cogg for £500. A dog with a color “Covent Gar[den]” barks at Tom.
- Title: Ruin’d at a gaming table [graphic].
- Publication: [London] : Publish’d wth. [the] consent of Mrs. Hogarth, by Henry Parker, at No. 82 in Cornhill, March 25, 1768.
Catalog Record
Hogarth 768.03.25.06+ Box 210
Acquired December 2019
A copy in reverse of William Hogarth’s Plate 4 of A harlot’s progress: A scene in Bridewell prison with Moll Hackabout and the other inmates beating hemp under the supervision of a stern warder holding a cane. Moll is still dressed in her finery, but a one-eyed female attendant fingers the lace lappet hanging from her cap and her serving-woman sits before her in Moll’s elegant shoes; next to her a fellow inmate picks vermin off her clothes. Next to Moll is a gambler, a torn playing card on the floor in front of him; behind her, a man stands with his hands in a pillory on which hangs a sign “Better to Work than Stand thus.” Further down the wall is a whipping post with the words “The Wages of Idleness.” On a shudder against the back wall is an effigy of Sir John Gonson (“Sr. J G”).
