Free worldwide shipping
90-day returns

Hogarth’s A Rake’s Progress

Painting series

Hogarth's A Rake's Progress

William Hogarth's A Rake's Progress tells the story of Tom Rakewell, who inherits a fortune and loses everything, in eight paintings meant to be read like chapters.

A Rake’s Progress: 1. The HeirA Rake’s Progress: 1. The HeirWilliam Hogarth$259A Rake’s Progress: 2. The LevéeA Rake’s Progress: 2. The LevéeWilliam Hogarth$259A Rake’s Progress: 3. The OrgyA Rake’s Progress: 3. The OrgyWilliam Hogarth$259A Rake’s Progress: 4. The ArrestA Rake’s Progress: 4. The ArrestWilliam Hogarth$259The Marriage by William HogarthA Rake’s Progress: 5. The MarriageWilliam Hogarth$259A Rake’s Progress: 6. The Gaming HouseA Rake’s Progress: 6. The Gaming HouseWilliam Hogarth$259The Prison by William HogarthA Rake’s Progress: 7. The PrisonWilliam Hogarth$259A Rake’s Progress: 8. The MadhouseA Rake’s Progress: 8. The MadhouseWilliam Hogarth$259

Looking for a painting that is not on this page? Search it by title. If it’s public domain, we paint it.

About the series

Hogarth painted the series between 1732 and 1734, then made engravings of it to sell, which was where the money was. He held back publication until the Engravers' Copyright Act was passed in 1735, so that nobody could pirate the prints.

Tom spends his father's money on clothes, hangers-on and drink, marries a rich old woman for her money, gambles it away, and ends in the Fleet prison and then in Bedlam. Sarah Young, the girl he abandoned in the first scene, keeps coming back to save him. Every scene is crowded with small jokes and details. Sir John Soane bought all eight in 1802, and they hang in the picture room of his London house, now Sir John Soane's Museum, on hinged panels that fold out from the walls.

All eight are the same size, so they can be hung as a full set in a row or a grid. A single scene, such as The Orgy or The Levée, also works on its own.