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 (Consultation of Quacks)" (1736), "The Distrest Poet" (1736), "The Four Times of the Day" (1738), and "Strolling Actresses Dressing in a Barn" (1738). He might also have printed "Burlington Gate" (1731), evoked by Alexander Pope's Epistle to Lord Burlington, and defending Lord Chandos, who is therein satirized. This print gave great offence, and was suppressed. However, modern authorities such as Ronald Paulson no longer attribute it to Hogarth. In 1731 Hogarth completed the earliest of his series of moral works, a body of work that led to significant recognition. The collection of six scenes was entitled "A Harlot's Progress" and