The six prints forming Marriage à-la-Mode are based on oil paintings by Hogarth now in the National Gallery. Unlike his previous printed sets, Hogarth employed other printmakers to engrave the plates. In doing so, he implied that his paintings were comparable to the works of the finest artists, which were being copied in the sort of reproductive prints the engravers he had selected were known for. In the Royal Collection by 1845 Cat. 89