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Before
1736
14 5/8” X 11 7/8 (H X W)
Etched and Engraved by Hogarth after his painting.
View the full resolution plate here.
View the painting here.
A woman fends off the advances of her insistent lover. Most commentators agree that the woman is at least complicit in the imminent intercourse. Shesgreen states that she has “of course invited him into her bedroom and even anticipated his response by removing beforehand her shackling underwear and placing it advertising on the chair” (37). Her refusal is, then, simple coyness or acknowledged role-playing. N.F. Lowe admits that a first reading suggested, to him, rape, but that more careful examination reveals a beauty spot, concealing a possible sexually-transmitted disease, suggesting that she is not as “innocent” as she appears (79). Her preference for the bawdy poetry of Rochester over “The Practice of Piety” does not speak well to her purity. Aside from the danger of negating the girl’s current struggle based on previous experience, Lowe’s observations are useful. Even comical sexual situations have consequences in Hogarth—here, disease and, ultimately, death. The fall of the desk is reminiscent of falling objects in A Harlot’s Progress which not only prophesy the heroine’s fall but also recall the Fall into sin.
As is typical in Hogarth, the dog represents sexual interest and arousal. Erect and frisky, the canine appears to lurch at the skirts of the girl. The chamberpot under the bed underscores the baseness and commonality of the situation.
Before
Shesgreen, Sean. Engravings by Hogarth. (1973)
This scene contrasts a girl’s last minute resistance with her prior inclinations and preparations. With a look of alarm on her face, the girl seems to flee the embraces of her disheveled lover. Grinning wildly, his eyes bulging, he loses his wig in his passion, exposing his shaved head. The girl has, of course, invited him into her bedroom and even anticipated his response by removing beforehand her shackling underwear and displaying it advertisingly upon her chair. The source of her “fall” is to be found in the books on her tumbling vanity. She has been reading the witty, venereal “Poims” of “Rochester” along with some “Novels?” “The Practice of Piety” lies vainly but ostentatiously open in her vanity drawer; it rests beside a love letter. A picture of a putto lighting a phallic rocket suggests the various roles and conditions in the scene. The girl’s dog attempts to aid in her defense. An unromantic chamber pot rests beside her foot (37).
Before
Quennell, Peter. Hogarth’s Progress. (1955)
From 1730 or 1731 . . .date the two canvases that he called Before and After—pictures of a young man attempting seduction, while a girl, endeavouring to preserve her virginity, over-turns her dressing-table, and of the same young man when he has accomplished his purpose, the broken looking-glass lying in fragments at his feet, and his mistress, disheveled and lachrymose, pleading for advice and affection. Both are awkward and somewhat unpleasing works; but they throw an interesting sidelight on the painter’s temperament. . . .Sentiment and grivoiserie are equally lacking. This, we feel is a possibly disastrous and undoubtedly ridiculous episode, such as happened yesterday and will happen again to-morrow, in the too-accommodating shelter of a half hundred curtained beds. The girl is a goose: her lover is a booby. The very gesture with which the young man hurriedly tugs at his breeches reveals his coarse ineptitude (73-74).
Before
Paulson, Ronald. Hogarth’s Graphic Works. (1965)
The picture on the wall, beside the bed, of Cupid lighting a rocked(labeled “BEFORE”) is emblematic of the gentleman’s condition. He is apparently the aggressor as he draws the resisting girl toward the bed he sits on. But the girl’s own reading is of “NOVELS” and “ROCHESTERS POEMS,” with “THE PRACTICE OF PIETY” open for appearance’s sake. Her ambiguous reluctance is implied by the equivocal behavior of her dog, who instead of defending her is echoing the man’s excitement; and one notices that she had removed the impediment of her corset before the gentleman’s arrival (171-172).
Before
Paulson, Ronald. Popular and Polite Art in the Age of Hogarth. (1979)
The dog appears again in Hogarth’s Before and After, where he barks at his mistress’s seducer before but is his exhausted surrogate after, and may have been seconding his natural impulses (253).
Before: Books
The girl’s penchant for the bawdy poetry of Rochester over “The Practice of Piety” does not speak well to her purity. In fact, one wonders if she is the seducer in the scene. The fall of the desk is reminiscent of falling objects in A Harlot’s Progress which not only prophesy the heroine’s fall but also recall the Fall into sin.
Before: Books
Quennell
From 1730 or 1731 . . .date the two canvases that he called Before and After—pictures of a young man attempting seduction, while a girl, endeavouring to preserve her virginity, over-turns her dressing-table, and of the same young man when he has accomplished his purpose, the broken looking-glass lying in fragments at his feet, and his mistress, disheveled and lachrymose, pleading for advice and affection. Both are awkward and somewhat unpleasing works; but they throw an interesting sidelight on the painter’s temperament. . . .Sentiment and grivoiserie are equally lacking. This, we feel is a possibly disastrous and undoubtedly ridiculous episode, such as happened yesterday and will happen again to-morrow, in the too-accommodating shelter of a half hundred curtained beds. The girl is a goose: her lover is a booby. The very gesture with which the young man hurriedly tugs at his breeches reveals his coarse ineptitude (73-74).
Before: Clothes
A woman fends off the advances of her insistent lover. Most commentators agree that the woman is at least complicit in the imminent intercourse. Shesgreen states that she has “of course invited him into her bedroom and even anticipated his response by removing beforehand her shackling underwear and placing it advertising on the chair” (37). Her refusal is, then, simple coyness or acknowledged role-playing. N.F. Lowe admits that a first reading suggested, to him, rape, but that more careful examination reveals a beauty spot, concealing a possible sexually-transmitted disease, suggesting that she is not as “innocent” as she appears (79).
Before: Cupid
The “Before” Cupid picture is illuminated by sunlight. Here, Cupid lights a phallic rocket in anticipation of the consummation. The picture also acts as foreshadowing: despite the girl’s apparent reluctance, she will give in. After the couple’s lovemaking, the rocket is spent, echoing the emotions of the man.
Before: Dog
As is typical in Hogarth, the dog represents sexual interest and arousal. Erect and frisky, the canine appears to lurch at the skirts of the girl. Shesgreen comments that the dog attempts to protect her (37), but it seems more to want to join the action. In the next plate, it sleeps, taking a “post-coital” nap.
Before: Girl
A woman fends off the advances of her insistent lover. Most commentators agree that the woman is at least complicit in the imminent intercourse. Shesgreen states that she has “of course invited him into her bedroom and even anticipated his response by removing beforehand her shackling underwear and placing it advertising on the chair” (37). Her refusal is, then, simple coyness or acknowledged role-playing. N.F. Lowe admits that a first reading suggested, to him, rape, but that more careful examination reveals a beauty spot, concealing a possible sexually-transmitted disease, suggesting that she is not as “innocent” as she appears (79). After the consummation of the relationship, she pleads with her lover to stay, but he appears anxious to rid himself of his conquest.
Before: Girl
Shesgreen
This scene contrasts a girl’s last minute resistance with her prior inclinations and preparations. With a look of alarm on her face, the girl seems to flee the embraces of her disheveled lover (37).
Before: Girl
Quennell
From 1730 or 1731 . . .date the two canvases that he called Before and After—pictures of a young man attempting seduction, while a girl, endeavouring to preserve her virginity, over-turns her dressing-table, and of the same young man when he has accomplished his purpose, the broken looking-glass lying in fragments at his feet, and his mistress, disheveled and lachrymose, pleading for advice and affection. Both are awkward and somewhat unpleasing works; but they throw an interesting sidelight on the painter’s temperament. . . .Sentiment and grivoiserie are equally lacking. This, we feel is a possibly disastrous and undoubtedly ridiculous episode, such as happened yesterday and will happen again to-morrow, in the too-accommodating shelter of a half hundred curtained beds. The girl is a goose: her lover is a booby. The very gesture with which the young man hurriedly tugs at his breeches reveals his coarse ineptitude (73-74).
Before: Man
A woman fends off the advances of her insistent lover. His grasping eagerness is contrasted with his post-coital standoffishness in After. The girl’s reading material and removed clothing reveal that it is perhaps she who is the seducer, now playing coy. The “erect” dog echoes and the picture of Cupid lighting a rocket echo his state of arousal. Despite his fine dress, the gentleman is portrayed as animalistic in desire in a commentary of the leveling nature of sexual desire—the commonality of the scene is underscored by the chamberpot.
Before: Man
Quennell
From 1730 or 1731 . . .date the two canvases that he called Before and After—pictures of a young man attempting seduction, while a girl, endeavouring to preserve her virginity, over-turns her dressing-table, and of the same young man when he has accomplished his purpose, the broken looking-glass lying in fragments at his feet, and his mistress, disheveled and lachrymose, pleading for advice and affection. Both are awkward and somewhat unpleasing works; but they throw an interesting sidelight on the painter’s temperament. . . .Sentiment and grivoiserie are equally lacking. This, we feel is a possibly disastrous and undoubtedly ridiculous episode, such as happened yesterday and will happen again to-morrow, in the too-accommodating shelter of a half hundred curtained beds. The girl is a goose: her lover is a booby. The very gesture with which the young man hurriedly tugs at his breeches reveals his coarse ineptitude (73-74).