‘Before’, William Hogarth, 1736
etching, h 424mm × w 327mm More details
Hogarth’s distinctive taste for satire is shown in these pendants of a well-to-do couple before and after sex. The attitude of the protagonists and the chaotic look of the room signal, however, the brutality of the act. The overturned table reveals a second image on the wall, with a laughing Cupid pointing at the spent rocket he was lighting in the image hanging above.
