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Unknown Maker, English

A Macaroni Dressing Room

Maker

Unknown Maker, English, etcher
Mary Darly (British, 1757 - 1776), publisher
Matthew Darly (British, 1720 - 1780), publisher

Culture

English

Title

A Macaroni Dressing Room

Year

1772

Medium

  • Etching on engraving paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Etching on engraving paper

Materials

ink

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

Plate: 25.1 x 35.2 cm (9 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Lettered: "I. W. sc." (unidentified English engraver) | Numbered "12" in UR | Numbered "22" in UL (presumably a second printing)
Lettered below image: "A Macaroni Dressing Room" / "Pub. according to Act June 26th 1772 by MDarly (39) Strand"

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Mary B. Jackson Fund

Object Number

2011.63.2

Type

  • Prints

Exhibition History

Artist, Rebel, Dandy
Men of Fashion
Apr 26, 2013 – Aug 18, 2013

Label copy

A Macaroni Dressing Room offers a window into the intimate world of the Macaroni, or the fashionable mid-18th-century Englishman who dressed and spoke in an affected manner. Oxford Magazine reported in 1770, "There is indeed a kind of animal, neither male nor female, a thing of the neuter gender, lately started up amongst us. It is called Macaroni."

From 1760 to 1800, hundreds of humorous prints, also known as drolls, were produced in London. The engravers and print sellers Mary & Matthew Darly became known as the "Macaroni Print-Shop" because of their merchandise. In this print, a fashionable printed-cotton dressing gown, or banyan, is worn by the sitter, who is having his wig powdered. The pictures on the wall show such topics as "Rotten Row Macaroni" and "Morning Devotion." A banyan worn by the Prince of Wales faces this print.

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Public Domain This object is in the Public Domain and available under a CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication

Tombstone

Unknown Maker, English, etcher
Mary Darly (British, 1757 - 1776), publisher
Matthew Darly (British, 1720 - 1780), publisher
A Macaroni Dressing Room, 1772
Etching on engraving paper
Plate: 25.1 x 35.2 cm (9 7/8 x 13 7/8 inches)
Mary B. Jackson Fund 2011.63.2

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Feedback

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