Marriage à-la-mode: the original Bad Romance

On Friday 26 June at 6 pm, James Kelly gave a talk on Hogarth for the Dublin Decorative & Fine Arts Society.  This talk was organised by the Dublin Decorative & Fine Arts Society and their members were given priority booking (a good reason to join! contact dubdecandfine@gmail.com) although a few places were made available for others.

The Society held a pre-talk reception (wine, elderflower cordial and nibbles) in the garden: the weather co-operated and a good time was had by all!

James Kelly presented a fascinating analysis  of William Hogarth’s Marriage à-la-mode, a series of six pictures painted by William Hogarth between 1743 and 1745 depicting a pointed skewering of upper class 18th century society. This moralistic warning shows the disastrous results of an ill-considered marriage for money and satirises patronage and aesthetics.

James Kelly graduated from DIT School of Architecture with a Bachelor’s degree in Architectural Science and a Diploma in Architecture in 1988. After graduation he worked in England with Wintersgill & Faulkner where he was an associate responsible for the design and construction of a variety of projects He returned to Ireland in 1993 and formed James Kelly Architects in 1994 continuing in private practise until 1999 when he formed Kelly and Cogan Architects with Denis Cogan, a practise specialising in a mixture of conservation, housing and urban design.  He is currently Chairman of the Dublin Civic Trust. He is a Member of the Royal Institute of British Architects and of the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland .