In this painting, the countess has poisoned herself in her grief and poverty-stricken widowhood after her lover is hanged at Tyburn for murdering her husband. An old woman carrying the countess's infant daughter allows her to give her mother a kiss, but the mark on the child's cheek and the caliper on her leg suggest that syphilis has been passed on to the next generation. The countess's father, whose miserly lifestyle is evident in the bare house, removes the wedding ring from her finger.Painting credit: William Hogarth