Masquerades and Operas

The Bad Taste of the Town (also known as Masquerades and Operas) is an early print by William Hogarth, published in February 1723/24. The small print – 5 inches (13 cm) by 6 inches (15 cm) – mocks the contemporary fashion for foreign culture, including Palladian architecture, pantomimes based on the Italian commedia dell'arte, masquerades (masked balls), and Italian opera. The work combines two printmaking techniques – etching and engraving – with etched lines made in the plate using acid and engraved lines marked using a burin.

Outside the building to the left – probably King's Theatre, Haymarket – a queue of masked people is being led to a masquerade ball by a devil or satyr bearing aloft a bag containing £1,000 accompanied by a figure wearing a jester's cap and bells with a garter round his right leg (possibly intended to be the Prince of Wales, later George II, who was said to enjoy masquerades).

A banner hanging above the entrance shows Charles Mordaunt, 3rd Earl of Peterborough and two other noblemen kneeling before the Italian soprano opera singer Francesca Cuzzoni, asking her "pray accept £8,000" to perform in London. The Earl is pouring money on the floor, and she draws it towards her with a rake, while two male singers stand behind. The banner is based on a 1723 caricature by another engraver of a performance of Handel's opera Flavio which featured Cuzzoni as Emilia, with Berenstadt as Flavio, and Senesino as Guido.

Another sign advertises the conjuring act of Isaac Fawkes in the building's "Long room". John James Heidegger, Swiss impresario, manager of the King's Theatre, Haymarket, and introducer of the masquerades to London, leans out of a window, identifiable by the letter "H..." on the window ledge under him.

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