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1955-62,33, Print
The Female Conoiseur
1955-62,33, Print

The Female Conoiseur

Date1772
Publisher Matthew Darly (ca. 1720 - 1780)
Publisher Mary Darly (1760 - 1781)
After work by M. Darly
OriginEngland, London
MediumEtching and line engraving on laid paper with hand color
DimensionsOverall: 8 9/16 × 5 9/16in. (21.7 × 14.1cm) Other: 7 × 4 7/8in. (17.8 × 12.4cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1955-62,33
DescriptionUpper left corner reads: "7"
Lower margin reads: "THE FEMALE CONOISEUR. / Pub by MDarly accor.g to Act Feb.y 1.st 1772."
Label TextThe print is plate 7 from volume II of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "Caricatures Macaronies & Characters by Sundry Ladies and Gentleman Artists &c." The woman depicted in this print is said to represent either print publisher and engraver Mary Darly or collector Sarah Sophia Banks. Mary Darly engraved many of the prints contained in this volume which she published with her husband Matthew Darly. This print has long been thought to represent her, however the British Museum also speculates that the print might represent Sarah Sophia Banks, the sister of botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Banks (see the Fly Catcher Macaroni 1955-62, 68) and notable collector of prints, coins, and medals. This is one of the prints represented in the engraving of Darly's print shop window, see "The Macaroni Print Shop" (see 1953-49). The macaroni print in her hand represents man facing left, carrying a sword in one hand, and wearing his hair in a long queue; it strongly resembles "The Martial Macaroni" (see 1955-62, 25).

The Darly's were a husband-and-wife team who capitalized on the craze for caricatures -- the practice of making a likeness with exaggerated mannerisms or features to create a comic effect. This form 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 prints satirized the manners and fashions of the macaroni, a term broadly used to describe fashionably dressed men during the period, and subsequently, regardless of subject, the Darly's prints were known as "macaroni prints."

Their most famous work, "Caricatures," featured satirical portraits, all based on their own drawings and those submitted to them by amateur artists lambasting their friends, artists, and other figures in London society. 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.