Mary Hogarth Charles Dickens when Mary was aged 14, on Dickens' first visit to the Hogarth household in Brompton, London. Whilst Dickens and Catherine were courting, Mary was a constant companion and chaperone to both of them. After Charles and Catherine Dickens married in 1836, Hogarth lived with them for a month in a three bedroom apartment at the Furnival's Inn in Holborn, London. From March 1837, Hogarth lived with the couple at 48 Doughty Street, where she helped her sister with household chores, as Catherine was pregnant with her first child. Hogarth was described by those who knew her as "sweet,
Hogarth Painting the Comic Muse motto: "my picture was my stage and men and women my actors", as the Comic Muse was said to provide inspiration for playwrights. Seated in front of his easel, palette in hand, Hogarth eagerly works at his painting; Hogarth expressly wanted a self-portrait in which he was depicted in the middle of painting a piece, rather than in a static pose. Leaning against the right leg of the easel is Hogarth's "The Analysis of Beauty", a text which was written to complement this particular piece. X-ray analysis shows that the painting originally had a small dog relieving himself on a