Marriage à la Mode: The Death of the Countess

Marriage à la Mode: The Death of the Countess by William Hogarth is the sixth and final plate of the artist's renowned six-part satirical series, executed in 1745 as an engraving. This powerful image concludes the tragic narrative detailing the decline of a marriage arranged solely for financial and social gain in the upper classes of the United Kingdom.

The highly detailed print depicts the climactic tragedy: the Countess has died by suicide, consuming laudanum in her impoverished parental home after her lover was executed for murdering her husband, the Viscount. Hogarth masterfully fills the composition with details that underscore the moral and physical ruin caused by the aristocratic union. Chaos reigns in the cluttered room; a physician ignores the dying woman to lecture a servant about her medicine, while a young child, possibly inheriting the venereal disease that doomed the family line, stands innocently nearby.

The meticulous execution of this print conveys Hogarth’s sharp criticism of 18th-century social customs and the disastrous consequences of unchecked vice. As a highly successful print series, Hogarth’s narrative achieved immense popularity, making his modern moral subjects accessible to a broad audience. This work, a key example of the artist's satirical genius, is currently held in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Because of its cultural significance, high-quality Marriage à la Mode: The Death of the Countess prints are often found available in the public domain for study and reference.