Mon.r Le Medicin

Date1771

Publisher Matthew Darly (ca. 1720 - 1780)

Publisher Mary Darly (1760 - 1781)

Publisher M. Darly

OriginEngland, London

MediumEtching with line engraving with period color

DimensionsOverall: 8 1/2 × 5 1/2in. (21.6 × 14cm) Overall (Plate): 6 × 4in. (15.2 × 10.2cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-62,3

DescriptionUpper right corner reads: "2"
Text on paper attached to syringe reads: "Une Lavement pour/ Mademoiselle/ Mimi."
Lower margin reads: "MON..R LE MEDICIN. / Pub.d accord.g to Act of Parll.t June 13:.th 1771 by MDarly39 Strand."
Label TextThis caricature print depicts a French doctor. He in the act of taking snuff from a large box held in one hand. Under that same arm he holds an umbrella and wears a muff around his neck, an accessory not usually carried by Englishman and often associated with the French during this period). He wears a wig with a large toupee and a huge wig bag. Other details that are meant to make him a ridiculous character include his spotted stockings, a sword (typically only carried by courtiers) and excessively large wrist ruffles. In his pocket he carries a syringe for an enema with a label reading, "Une Lavement Pour Mademoiselle Mimi."

The print is from volume I of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "24 Caricatures by Several Ladies Gentleman Artists &c." The husband-and-wife team capitalized on the craze for caricatures, the practice of making a likeness with exaggerated mannerisms or features to create a comic effect, a form that was brought back by aristocratic Britons who visited Italy on the Grand Tour. The Darly’s catered to this audience by publishing a prolific assortment of caricature prints during the 1770s. Many of the Darly's satirized the manners and fashions of the macaroni, a term used to describe a sub-culture of fashionably dressed men during the period, and subsequently, regardless of subject, the Darly's prints were known as "macaroni prints."

Their most famous work was their encyclopedic "Caricatures" which included prints of macaroni’s as well as other interesting characters, such as macaronis, all based on their own drawings and those submitted to them by amateur artists lambasting their friends, artists, and other figures in London life. The front page of Volume I describes them as “…a Series of Drol[l] Prints consisting of Heads, Figures, Conversations and Satires upon the follies of the Age…” These prints were published in groups of 24, in six volumes that were published between 1771 and 1773. Colonial Williamsburg owns volumes 1-3.