Artwork
Taste in High Life
Taste in High Life is an unspecified painting by the Rococo painting artist William Hogarth. It dates from 1742 and is held in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
About this work
Overview
William Hogarth’s oil on canvas, Taste in High Life, dates to roughly 1742. The work depicts an opulent interior populated by elegantly dressed figures, a servant, and decorative objects that together convey the affluence of an eighteenth‑century gathering.
Subject & Meaning
The scene presents a fashionable party: a woman in a blue dress with yellow trim converses with a man in a bright yellow coat, while a young girl in a white, flower‑patterned gown gestures. A servant in green holds a candle, and a sculpted female figure stands on a pedestal, underscoring the display of wealth through clothing, accessories, and the surrounding décor.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil, Hogarth renders the textures of silk, velvet, and polished surfaces with fine brushwork, allowing the intricate patterns of the garments and the reflective qualities of the gold‑framed paintings in the background to emerge. Small details—a miniature pyramid, scattered books, and toys on the floor—are rendered with precise, almost miniature precision, highlighting the artist’s interest in narrative detail.
History & Provenance
An engraving of the painting was produced by Samuel Phillips in 1798, commissioned by the publisher John Boydell for a posthumous collection of Hogarth’s works. Phillips issued three states of the print, the final one appearing in 1808, extending the image’s circulation beyond the original canvas.
Context
Taste in High Life reflects the mid‑eighteenth‑century fascination with aristocratic leisure and the visual language of status. The inclusion of classical motifs, such as the statue and the tiny pyramid, aligns the scene with contemporary tastes for antiquarian decoration.
Legacy
Through the later engraving, the composition reached a broader audience, influencing how Hogarth’s social commentary was perceived in the decades after his death, and providing a visual record of elite domestic interiors of the period.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, satirist, cartoonist and writer.
