Copy of plates 1-3 from hogarth's 'harlot's progress':
plate 1: a scene outside the bell inn; a country girl, moll hackabout, just arrived on the york wagon, meets an extravagantly dressed bawd (mother needham); a clergyman on horseback fails to notice the encounter, but a lecherous old gentleman (colonel charteris) eyes the girl with anticipation. Plate 2: copy of a lavishly furnished bedroom; moll distracts her wealthy jewish protector by exposing a breast and at the same time tipping over a tea-table so that her lover can slip quietly out of the room; in the foreground a mask lies on a table, a pet monkey scampers away with a piece of lace and a black boy dressed in a feathered turban and carrying a silver kettle starts with horror as expensive porcelain is shattered; on the far wall are pictures of old testament subjects (jonah iv. 8 and 2 samuel vi. 1-5). Plate 3: a shabby room in drury lane; moll is rising late, 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 prints of captain mackheath (the hero of "the beggar's opera") and dr sacheverell (the high anglican clergyman impeached in 1710), the hat-box of james dalton, highwayman, rests above the bed, and one of several beer tankards on the floor carries the name of a local tavern. All in reverse, a satyr either side of the first scene. 1732
etching with engraving. Date: 1732. Dimensions: Height: 470 mm; Width: 558 mm. Medium: paper. Depicted People: Sir John Gonson. Collection: British Museum. A Harlot's Progress (BM 1848,0708.19-21)
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