A Macaroni
May 4, 1771
Medium
Etching
Dimensions
plate: 6 x 4 3/16 in. (15.3 x 10.6 cm) sheet: 8 13/16 x 5 7/16 in. (22.4 x 13.8 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2011
Accession Number
2011.88(4)
Tags
Art Historical Context
Step into the satirical world of 18th London with *A Macaroni*, an created by Matthew Darly, Darly, and Edward Topham on May 4, 1771. This petite print (plate: 6 x 4 3/16 in.) captures the exaggerated fashions of the "Macaroni" dandies—young British gentlemen who returned from their Grand Tours in Italy sporting outlandish Continental styles, from towering powdered wigs to ornate suits and accessories. Often accompanied by pampered dogs, these figures symbolized excess and cultural pretension, ripe for ridicule. The Darlys, a husband-and-wife team renowned for their prolific output of caricat...