Hogarth House Collaboration

In collaboration with Hogarth House, Ruby's costume: ‘Contessas Shame’ is based on the bagnio, the fifth carving in the series “Marriage à la mode” by Williams Hogarth. In this etching, the countess has been caught in a romantic toil with her lover. Ruby has redesigned the character of the countess into a satirical version of the myth of Actaeon. The story of Actaeon is an ancient Greek myth where a hunter stumbles upon the goddess Artemis bathing in the forest, she then turns Actaeon into a stag, and he is hunted and killed by his own hounds. In her design, the countess is morphed into the shame of Actaeon, with stags horns and motifs of Artemis and the hunting hounds on her skirts. Ruby’s version of the countess is buried in excess, giving her the appearance that she does not quite fit into this new world she finds herself in. 

Tableau of “The Bagnio”, painted by Ruby Williams, costumes and designs by Ruby Williams

The original ‘The Bagnio’ etched by William Hogarth