William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress 2

Tom is now "holding court" in the morning, surrounded by a variety of spongers, supplicants, and tradesmen. The times have hardly changed that much, since so many people today will still define their value in society in precisely the same way, The more we are seen, and the more we are admired and pursued, the more we think we have "arrived" as people of worth. 

I once briefly had the unpleasant job of being the personal assistant to a self-important administrator, and I would watch as he made his way through his string of appointments, complaining all the time what a great burden it was to deal with the petitioners, even as it was crystal clear how much he enjoyed the attention. He would strut about, grinning from ear to ear, all the while referring to his work as a "service" to the community. 

I am told that the entourage here includes a composer at the harpsichord, perhaps meant to be Handel, a dancing master with his violin, instructors in fencing and the quarterstaff, a garden designer, a burly bodyguard, a fox-hunting bugler, and a jockey, complete with trophy, who has raced Tom's horse. Further in the background are a wig maker, a hat maker, and a poet. 

My eyes always go to the French dancing master in the center, with his effete pose, who reminds me of a flamboyant Rector I knew years ago. Each day was a new opportunity for him to put on a show. 

The painting in the middle represents the Judgment of Paris, that fateful moment when a choice made out of desire led to the downfall of so many. On both sides are picture of roosters, which my old professor said stood for the practice of cockfighting, a favorite pastime for spoiled men. 

Look how good Tom has it! Doesn't he? 

William Hogarth, A Rake's Progress II: The Levée (1734)