YMMV / Marriage A-la-Mode

• Fair for Its Day: The two black people depicted in The Toilette are shown in explicitly othered lights, and the adult man sports exaggeratedly large lips emblematic of anti-black stereotyping in Europe. Despite this, they're depicted in European clothes and social settings, which art historians note was a huge step forward from contemporary depictions of Africans as superstitious and primitive.
• Vindicated by History: The paintings were poorly received by the public upon their debut and underperformed financially, much to Hogarth's dismay, resulting the cancellation of a planned sequel series focusing on the lifespan of a successful marriage. Centuries later, however, Marriage A-la-Mode was heavily reappraised by art critics and art historians, and the series is now considered one of Hogarth's most famous works.

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