Marriage A-la-Mode: 6. The Lady's Death

Hogarth's Marriage A-la-Mode: 6. The Lady's Death depicts the final catastrophe of the serial narrative: the Countess dying of laudanum after receiving news of Silvertongue's execution for the murder of her husband, her father removing her valuable ring from her finger as she dies. The scene's moral economy is complete — every character receives appropriate reward or punishment — but Hogarth's satire extends to the alderman father's financial calculation even in the midst of his daughter's death, and the thin-legged child showing the signs of inherited syphilis kissing the dying mother's cheek amplifies the tragedy beyond individual moral failure.

Hogarth renders the death scene with restrained palette and devastating narrative detail—the empty laudanum bottle, the dying woman's pallor, the father's mercenary gesture. The stark, dimly lit room and the pathos of the child create a powerful contrast to the earlier scenes of frivolous luxury.