The CIty Tonsor

Date1771

Publisher Matthew Darly (ca. 1720 - 1780)

Publisher Mary Darly (1760 - 1781)

Engraver M. Darly

OriginEngland, London

MediumHand-colored etching with line engraving

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

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-62,5

DescriptionUpper right corner: "4"
Lower margin reads: "THE CITY TONSOR. / Pub.d accord.g to Act of Parl.t July 1,,.st 1771 by MDarly 39 Strand."
Label TextThe print is plate 4 from volume I of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "24 Caricatures by Several Ladies Gentleman Artists &c." This caricature print satirizes a tonsor or barber who holds in one hand a frame with three wigs. One is a large two tailed wig with a third small tail between. The second is a small "Scratch" wig. The third wig is like that worn by macaronies, with a large knot of hair attached to the rear and tied with a large ribbon. The tonsor is dressed in gold breeches and coat, with a green waistcoat. He has two handles of what are probably tools of the trade sticking out of the rear breeches pocket.

The print is plate 4 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.