About: Marriage A-la-Mode: 4. The Toilette

The Toilette, called The countess's morning levee on the frame, is the fourth canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage A-la-Mode painted by William Hogarth. The old earl has died, so the son is now the new earl, and his wife is the countess. As was still the fashion at the time, the countess is holding a reception during her "toilette", her grooming, in her bedroom, in imitation of this age-old custom of kings called a levee. The fact that Hogarth ridiculed this convocation of people in the bedroom of a noble during their "morning" grooming (often very late in the day) proves that such a convocation in such an intimate room was increasingly viewed as inappropriate and lewd.