Details

• A black patch on the Viscount’s neck is Hogarth's device for signifying the Viscount is suffering from syphilis
  Syphilis
  Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
  
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• The French doctor is based upon Dr. Rock (who can also be seen in A Harlot's Progress
  A Harlot's Progress
  A Harlot's Progress is a series of six paintings and engravings by William Hogarth. The series shows the story of a young woman, Mary Hackabout, who arrives in London from the country and becomes a prostitute...
  
  ). His surgery was at 96, St. Martins Lane, Westminster, London.
• The taller woman is opening a clasp knife and is turning away from the Viscount who she clearly dislikes. Commentators variously identify her as the child's mother, the doctor's assistant or another prostitute. If she were the child's mother, Hogarth would have almost certainly placed mother and child together.
• The cabinet on the left has shelves crammed with apothecary's pots and a wolf's head on the top. On the left wall are two paintings of monsters: one is a man with his head below his shoulders underneath two mummies, and the other of a two headed hermaphrodite
  Hermaphrodite
  In biology, a hermaphrodite is an organism that has reproductive organs normally associated with both male and female sexes.Many taxonomic groups of animals do not have separate sexes. In these groups, hermaphroditism is a normal condition, enabling a form of sexual reproduction in which both...
  
  .
• The cabinet against the rear wall has a door ajar revealing a skeleton suggestively leaning against an embalmed body. There is also a long wig on a plaster head.
• Fixed to the wall and on top of the cabinet, from left to right, there are: a narwal tusk (a classic phallic symbol), a pile of pill boxes, a bleeding basin (identified because of its scalloped side), a glass urinal, a giant plaster head with a huge femur behind, an alchemist's tripod for holding flasks over burners (or a gallows tree), a broken mediaevial comb, a tall red Jacobean
  Jacobean era
  The Jacobean era refers to the period in English and Scottish history that coincides with the reign of King James VI of Scotland, who also inherited the crown of England in 1603 as James I...
  
   hat, two mismatched mediaeval shoes, a spur buckler and a sword and shield.
• On the ceiling is a stuffed crocodile with a large ostrich egg hanging from it.
• The extremely complicated mechanical contraptions on the right are identified by the inscription on the open book, as being for setting a dislocated shoulder and drawing corks out of wine bottles. An additional inscription on the book reads, "Inspected and approved by the Royal Academy at Paris," Hogarth emphasising the ignorance of the French and their scant knowledge of medicine.

Commentary

• Lichtenberg sees the basin, urinal, tripod, hat and spurs as a suggestion that his career has been barber, quack, near execution, doctor and finally knighthood.

Other paintings in the Marriage à-la-mode series

• Go back to Marriage à-la-mode: 2. The Tête à Tête
• Go on to Marriage à-la-mode: 4. The Toilette
  Marriage à-la-mode: 4. The Toilette
  The Toilette is the fourth canvas in the series of six satirical paintings known as Marriage à-la-mode painted by William Hogarth.The old Earl has died and the son is now the new Earl and his wife, the Countess...
  
  
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External links

• National Gallery
• The Literary Encyclopedia