William Hogarth 1697-1764 England, was a painter satirist and social critic during the 18th ct. His satiric paintings and engravings mostly covered and criticized social and political situations by ridiculing conventional and social standards of his times. One of my favorite work of his is Marriage à-la-mode, a series of six paintings which were later engraved and published, ridiculing arranged marriages where of course the unhappiness of the entire family ends with the tragedy that covers everything from murder to suicide. Go figure! “Moral: don’t listen to evil silver-tongued counselors; don’t marry a man for his rank, or a woman for her money; don’t frequent foolish auctions and masquerade balls unknown to your husband; don’t have wicked companions abroad and neglect your wife, otherwise you will be run through the body, and ruin will ensue, and disgrace, and Tyburn” And you may be wondering why am I reading all this and you’re right! but William is entirely responsible for what’s called Serpentine Line or Line of Beauty which is the S-shaped curved elongated line that frames an object. He thought that curves, not Sophia Vergara’s in this case, were more dynamic, more interesting to see, more lively and not as dead and static as straight lines. And I so much agree. When my professor said these things in class last year I thought “Clever man!” He probably had no idea that his theory would transcend to furniture, hence the Serpentine sideboard and many more wonderful good looking furniture and sculpture that we enjoy today. Below, a few images that show gracious and beautiful curves.

 

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