Plate Six, from A Rake's Progress
June 1735
Medium
Etching and engraving in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.5 × 38.6 cm (12 7/16 × 15 1/4 in.); Plate: 35.7 × 41 cm (14 1/16 × 16 3/16 in.); Sheet: 46.5 × 60.6 cm (18 5/16 × 23 7/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
80814
Art Historical Context
**Plate Six from *A Rake's Progress***, created by William Hogarth in 1735, is a pivotal scene from the artist's acclaimed satirical series chronicling the downfall of a young rake—Tom Rakewell—who squanders his inheritance on vice and folly. Hogarth, a master of 18th-century English satire, drew from contemporary London life to expose the perils of moral decay, blending sharp social commentary with dramatic narrative. This etching captures a moment of reckoning, likely depicting the protagonist's imprisonment amid debtors and despair, emblematic of the series' cautionary tale. Rendered in et...
About the Artist
William Hogarth · 1697–1764
William Hogarth (1697-1764) was an English painter, printmaker, and pictorial satirist who became the first great English-born artist to attract admiration abroad. Born into poverty in London, the son of a failed schoolmaster who was imprisoned for debt, Hogarth's early experiences with the harsh realities of 18th-century urban life profoundly shaped his artistic vision. After apprenticing with si...