Bidspirit auction | WILLIAM HOGARTH: A HARLOT'S PROGRESS,

WILLIAM HOGARTH: A HARLOT'S PROGRESS, PLATE 2 - William Hogarth (British, 1697 - 1764): A Harlot's Progress, Plate 2, Etching and Engraving on wove paper, Engraved by T. Cooh London, Published by G. G. frj. Robinson, Paternoster Row, June l”. 1798. Framed. Hogarth achieved his first great success with A Harlot’s Progress, a narrative cycle of six scenes depicting the moral dissolution of a once-innocent country girl through a life of prostitution in London. From the British Museum: 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).