A Rake's Progress eight paintings - eleven plates of 130 × 200 cm (50 x 80 inches) accompanied as by Hogarth of a series of copper engravings reproducing the same themes. A Rake's Progress A Rake's Progress is a series of eight paintings by 18th-century English artist William Hogarth. The canvases were produced in 1732–34, then engraved in 1734 and published in print form in 1735. The series shows the decline and fall of Tom Rakewell, the spendthrift son and heir of a rich merchant, who comes to London, wastes all his money on luxurious living, prostitution and gambling, and as a consequence
William Hogarth from prostitutes, and gambling – the character's life ultimately ends in Bethlem Royal Hospital. The original paintings of "A Harlot's Progress" were destroyed in the fire at Fonthill House in 1755; the oil paintings of "A Rake's Progress" (1733–34) are displayed in the gallery room at Sir John Soane's Museum, London, UK. When the success of "A Harlot's Progress" and "A Rake's Progress" resulted in numerous pirated reproductions by unscrupulous printsellers, Hogarth lobbied in parliament for greater legal control over the reproduction of his and other artists' work. The result was the Engravers’ Copyright Act (known as ‘Hogarth's Act’), which