The Road to Ruin 1/5: College

William Powell Frith's series 'The Road to Ruin' begins with a student card party in the early hours of the morning. A group of young men are shown around the table after playing cards through the night. It has been hosted by the seated man on the right, the anti-hero of Frith's series.

'The Road to Ruin' is a moralising series on the dangers of gambling. According to the artist, 'it was about 1869, after a visit to Ascot, that the idea first suggested itself for 'The Road to Ruin' series.' Frith produced several chalk drawings on the subject and employed models to sit for the main characters. He also took photographs of settings, including a college room at Cambridge for this work, and was praised for his 'study of human nature'.

Pysionomy, the study of facial features as a clue to understanding character, was popular during Frith's lifetime. One 19th century reviewer of this series noted how 'the face of the young host ... though pleasant enough, shows that fatal weakness of character which will hereafter prove his ruin.'

The series, which consists of five prints, derived from a set of five paintings which were exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1878. 'The Road to Ruin' and Frith's next series 'The Race for Wealth' were both inspired by the work of William Hogarth.