The Noviciate of a Macaroni. Ranelagh. 1772
Date1771
Engraver
M. Darly
Publisher
Mary Darly
(1760 - 1781)
Publisher
Matthew Darly
(ca. 1720 - 1780)
OriginEngland, London
MediumHand-colored etching
DimensionsOverall: 8 3/4 × 5 9/16in. (22.2 × 14.1cm)
Other (Plate): 7 × 5in. (17.8 × 12.7cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1955-62,36
DescriptionUpper right corner reads: "10"Lower margin reads: "THE NOVICIATE OF A MACARONI. / Ranelagh. 1772. / Pub according to Act by MDarly Feb..y 10..th 1771."
Label TextThe print is plate 10 from volume II of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "24 Caricatures by Several Ladies Gentleman Artists &c." The figure in the The Noviciate of a Macaroni is unidentified, but he represents the young men who would have enjoyed entertainments such as dancing, theater, musical performances at pleasure gardens, like Ranelegh Gardens in Chelsea which at the time was just outside of London. The word Noviciate, refers to the period of training that a prospective member of a religious order undergoes before taking vows, suggesting that these pleasure gardens were training grounds for “macaronis.”
The Darly's were a 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.
1771
