The Race for Wealth 2/5: The Spider at Home

This is the second plate in William Powell Frith's popular print series 'The Race for Wealth'.

The first print depicts a fraudulent financier, referred to as a spider, swindling people out of their money. This print shows the speculator in his well-appointed home receiving guests for a dinner party. The drawing room was in fact modelled on the artist's own. Portrayed on the far left gesturing towards a painting nearby, the 'spider' is entertaining his guests by discussing the art on the walls.

Prior to starting work on 'The Race for Wealth', Frith completed another series with a moral narrative which was entitled 'The Road to Ruin' and took gambling as its subject matter. The artist wrote how he was emboldened by the success of 'The Road to Ruin' and 'immediately embarked in a new venture: a series of five pictures representing the career of a fraudulent financier...a character not uncommon in 1877, or, perhaps, even at the present time.'

By the date of this series, Frith was well-known by the Victorian public for his large-scale panoramic visions of 19th century society. These works represent a new direction for the artist, who was clearly inspired by the paintings and prints of William Hogarth, particularly his modern moral series.