Mon.r Le Frizeur
Date1771
Publisher
Matthew Darly
(ca. 1720 - 1780)
Publisher
Mary Darly
(1760 - 1781)
Attributed to
Henry William Bunbury
(1750 - 1811)
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 number1955-62,6
DescriptionUpper margin: "5"Lower margin reads: "MON.R LE FRIZEUR./ Pub.d accord.g to Act of Parll.t May 21:.th 1771 by MDarly 39 Strand"
Label TextThis caricature print depicts an eccentrically dressed French barber holding a curling iron in his hair and a tress of hair. His hair has been trained to stand erect from his forehead; two curls are retained by combs over his ears; and her hair is clubbed in the back - a style associated with macaroni style. Macaroni was a term used to refer to outlandishly dressed men during the 1760s and 1780s, though the meaning or the term varied to encompass behavior, attitudes, and fashion. He is dressed in a light blue coat with white braid binding and dark blue lining; a rosey-red waistcoat, blue brocade breeches and red and white striped knee hose. A sword dangles from his far side. He wears two large face patches, and two combs in his hair.
The print is plate 5 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 satarized 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.
