A Rake’s Progress

work by Hogarth

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July 13, 2026

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A Rake's Progress is a series of eight satirical engravings created by the English artist William Hogarth between 1732 and 1734. The series depicts the downfall of a young man who inherits a fortune and squanders it on lavish living, eventually leading to his ruin, imprisonment, and madness.

The term "rake's progress" itself has come to mean a reckless course or a steady deterioration. Hogarth's work uses vivid imagery and social commentary to critique the moral and social failings of 18th-century society, particularly the corrupting influence of wealth and vice. The series is renowned for its detailed storytelling and its powerful moral message.12

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William Hogarth
Reputation and success of William Hogarth
…and held back the eight-part Rake’s Progress until a law of that nature, known as the Hogarth Act, was passed in 1735. In the following year Hogarth moved into the house in Leicester Fields that he was to occupy until his death.
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…and held back the eight-part Rake’s Progress until a law of that nature, known as the Hogarth Act, was passed in 1735. In the following year Hogarth moved into the house in Leicester Fields that he was to occupy until his death.
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comedy
The comic outside the theatre
Hogarth’s other series, such as A Rake’s Progress (1735) and A Harlot’s Progress (1732), also make a didactic point about the wages of sin, using realistic details heightened with grotesquerie to expose human frailty and its sinister consequences. The grotesque is a recurrent feature of the satiric tradition in England,…
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Hogarth’s other series, such as A Rake’s Progress (1735) and A Harlot’s Progress (1732), also make a didactic point about the wages of sin, using realistic details heightened with grotesquerie to expose human frailty and its sinister consequences. The grotesque is a recurrent feature of the satiric tradition in England,…
Read More