James Northcote, Diligence and Dissipation (also known as The Modest Girl and the Wanton)

Pairing and contrasting good characters and bad (or weak) ones would become a standard narrative device in the nineteenth century. Artists like Northcote and Charles Christian Nahl created scenes that demonstrated the positive effects of sound principles as well as the negative consequences of bad judgment.

Slideshare presentation of Diligence and Dissipation

“The Modest Girl and the Wanton/ Fellow Servants in a Gentleman's House”

Detail of Panel 10: Honorable Marriage and Dishonorable Death

See also Hogarth's Industry and Idleness:

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