On this print Hogarth makes the following remark:—
"Being perpetually plagued, from the mistakes made among the illiterate, by the similitude in the sound of the words character and caricatura, I, ten years ago, endeavoured to explain the distinction by the above print; and as I was then publishing Marriage à la Mode, wherein were characters of high life, I introduced the great number of faces there delineated (none of which are exaggerated), varied at random, to prevent, if possible, personal application when the prints should come out.
'We neither this nor that Sir Fopling call,
He's knight o' th' shire, and represents you all.'
This, however, did not prevent a likeness being found for each head, for a general character will always bear some resemblance to a particular one."
1745.
1. Marriage à la Mode, in six plates.
Plate 1. The coronet impressed on the dog in the print is not in the picture. I have this series of prints in the state they were left by the original engravers, and all of them, though delicately engraved, are in some degree spotty. In the second state of Plate 1, there are evident marks of the burin of Hogarth in the faces of the Citizen and Peer; and each of the characters, especially the latter, is improved. The French portrait he has designedly thrown more out of harmony than it was at first; the fringe to the canopy over the nobleman is much darker; a shadow thrown on the building seen out of the window, and on the light parts of the two dogs. Third state—All the shadows blacker. Engraved by G. Scotin. Guido's Judith, which forms the subject of one of the pictures, Hogarth copied from a print engraved by Dupuis.
Plate 2. First state—A lock of hair on the forehead of the lady, generally inserted with Indian ink, but sometimes left without. Second state—Lock of hair engraved, and shadows on the carpet, etc. stronger. Engraved by B. Baron.
Plate 3. In the original picture, an alembic under the table is seen through the cloth. In the second state of the print, the character of the nobleman's face is altered; the bow under his chin is broader, and the shadows on the sole of his right shoe considerably strengthened. Girl's cloak and woman's apron darker than at first. Third state—I discover no alterations, except the shadows being darkened. Engraved by B. Baron.