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1955-62,72, Print
The Madras Tyrant or the Director of Directors
1955-62,72, Print

The Madras Tyrant or the Director of Directors

Date1772
Publisher M. Darly
Publisher Mary Darly (1760 - 1781)
Publisher Matthew Darly (ca. 1720 - 1780)
OriginEngland, London
MediumHand-colored etching and line engraving
DimensionsOverall: 8 9/16 × 5 9/16in. (21.7 × 14.1cm) Other (Plate): 7 × 5in. (17.8 × 12.7cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1955-62,72
DescriptionTop right corner reads: "21" (partially cut-off)
Upper margin reads: "THE MADRAS TYRANT or the/ DIRECTOR OF DIRECTORS."
Lower margin reads: "JOS. or the Father of Murder. Rapine &c./ JC (cyhper). Pub.d according to Act of Parlt. March 16 1772 by MDarly 39 Strand."
Label TextThe print is plate 21 from volume III of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "24 Caricatures by Several Ladies Gentleman Artists &c." This satire is thought to represent Lord Robert Clive, (1725-1774) who was a controversial figure who was largely responsible for establing the British East India Company's control and power of India, much to his personal gain. At the time this caricature was published, Parliament was undergoing an inquiry into the Company's affairs conducted during the period of time that Clive was involved.

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 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 1-4.