The Orgy (The Rake's Progress #3; aka The Tavern Scene) (1735) William Hogarth (1697 - 1764) Hogarth, a popular painter and illustrator, created an eight-picture sequence illustrating the moral, physical, and financial decline of an unprincipled young man, "Tom Rakewell." (A "rake" is a "lady's man," a playboy, someone interested in fun and not concerned with moral scruples — a perfect target, in other words, for the moralists of Augustan culture.) In this famous picture sequence, Tom inherits a lot of money but his lack of self-discipline and morality lead gradually to his destruction. The use of "progress" in the series title is of course ironic (a play on the title of John Bunyan's famous Pilgrim's Progress), as the final illustration shows the young man, having been imprisoned for debt, now suffering from madness, probably caused by syphillis. < back       next >