Taste in High Life

The engraving after a painting by William Hogarth made as commission in 1742 shows the afternoon meeting of an old, rich lady - the patron Miss Edwards - with an aging gallant - Lord Portmore - in the lady's salon. Both are wearing very costly dresses in the courtly manner. It is striking that of the seven paintings in the background, five explicitly deal with the subject of hoop skirts: On the left, a ballet dancer swarmed by butterflies in a plate-like hoop skirt; in the center, a statue of Venus dressed in a hoop skirt half and the burning of a huge hoop skirt; on the right, a prop room with hoop skirts and wigs; and two pictures of ladies in hoop skirts exiting. The justeau corps-clad monkey studies a Frenchized menu card, a reference to the aping of French court fashion by English ladies. Supposedly, Miss Edward intended this painting to avenge insults she received from contemporaries for her unfashionable appearance. After her death the painting was sold. Already in 1746 against Hogarth's will an anonymous copy as etching had been put on the market, further copies followed. In 1798 Mr Samuel Philipps made another after-engraving, later sold the plate to Boydell who reissued the print - so also the sheet exhibited here - in 1808.