The Sleepy Macaroni
Date1772
Possibly by
Henry William Bunbury
1750 - 1811
Publisher
M. Darly
Publisher
Mary Darly
1760 - 1781
Publisher
Matthew Darly
ca. 1720 - 1780
OriginEngland, London
MediumEtching and line engraving on laid paper with hand coloring
DimensionsOverall: 8 9/16 × 5 9/16in. (21.7 × 14.1cm)
Other (Plate): 7 1/4 × 5in. (18.4 × 12.7cm)
Other (Plate): 7 1/4 × 5in. (18.4 × 12.7cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase
Object number1955-62,65
DescriptionUpper right corner reads: "14"Lower margin reads: "WB Inv.t et sc./ THE SLEEPY MACARONI./ Dreaming for the Good of his Country./ Pub.t accor.g to Act June 4.th 1772 by MDarly (39) Strand."Label TextThe print is plate 14 from volume III of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "24 Caricatures by Several Ladies Gentleman Artists &c." This plate is thought to represent Stephen Fox, 2nd Baron Holland (1745-1774) was the elder brother of Whig statesman Charles James Fox (who was often represented in satirical prints as a macaroni-type). According to Frederic George Stephens and Dorothy May George, "The title of the satire infers that dreaming was Stephen Fox's most innocent employment, and that his country would derive little benefit from his waking hours." (1) They also mention that Horace Walpole makes several references to Stephen Fox in his writings. This print is represented as shown in Darly's shop window in his etching "The Macaroni Print Shop" (CW #1953-49).
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.
(1) CATALOGUE OF PRINTS AND DRAWINGS IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM, Vol. IV, p. 766, #4648ProvenanceBefore 1955, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1955-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).
