Thomas Cook - engraver, William Hogarth - inventor - A Rake’s Progress VIII
The rake has now reached the stone-cold bottom of his perverted „progress“ and, propped up by Sarah Young, ends up in the notorious Bethlehem mental hospital (Bedlam). Here, Tom has become one of the prime attractions of a popular spectacle: the fashionable ladies visiting the lunatic asylum to gawk at the sight of the mentally ill are by no means an aberration in the context of London society of the era. Apart from the society ladies, Sarah and a duo of attendants tying up the raving and self-destructive Tom (see the binds on his chest), all of the other inmates are delusional.
date:
measurements: height 470 mm
width 583 mm
in collections:
material: paper
technique: engraving
inscription:
inventory number: R 906
gallery collection: Collection of Prints and Drawings