The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1 (1745): Art, History and Details

The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1 (1745) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Gérard Jean-Baptiste Scotin II (French, 1698–1760); William Hogarth (British, 1697–1764).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

William Hogarth bitingly satirized the follies of Enlightenment high society in Marriage à la Mode, a print series whose title roughly translates as “marriage in the current fashion.” The series follows the story of an incompatible marriage arranged for financial and social gain. Here, the impoverished Earl of Squander gestures to his exalted family tree as he haggles over the marriage contract between his son and a wealthy alderman’s daughter. Uninvolved in the negotiations, the young couple sit side by side completely uninterested in each other. While Viscount Squanderfield gazes at his reflection, his bride-to-be listens to the flirtatious lawyer, Silvertongue, with whom she will later conduct an affair.

Object facts

• Title: The Marriage Settlement, Plate 1
• Date: 1745
• Creator attribution: Gérard Jean-Baptiste Scotin II (French, 1698–1760); William Hogarth (British, 1697–1764)
• Culture: England, 18th century
• Type: Print
• Technique: Etching and engraving
• Dimensions: Image: 35 x 44.5 cm (13 3/4 x 17 1/2 in.); Plate: 38.2 x 46.8 cm (15 1/16 x 18 7/16 in.); Sheet: 46.4 x 57.5 cm (18 1/4 x 22 5/8 in.)
• Collection: PR - Engraving
• Department: Prints
• Accession number: 1959.311.1

A detail from the museum

Objects and paintings in the background of William Hogarth’s compositions often echo or comment on the central narrative being depicted.

Collection credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Curtiss Rose

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.