Macaroni Bricklayer, Prior to any other Macaroni

Date1772

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 1/2 × 5 1/2 in (21.59 × 13.97cm)
Platemark: 7 × 5 in (17.78 × 12.7cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1955-62,93

DescriptionUpper right corner reads: "18"
Lower margin reads: "THE MACARONI BRICKLAYER,/ PRIOR to any other Macaroni./ Pub.d accord.g Act of Parl.t Sep.t 17 1772 by MDarly (39) Strand."Label TextThe print is plate 18 from volume IV of six volumes of Mary and Matthew Darly's "VOL. IV. of Macaronies, Characters, Caricatures." The identity of the figure caricatured in this print has been debated. Stephens suggests that it was King George III, however the British Museum catalogue points out that the spade might be a reference to freemasonry. "The Macaroni Bricklayer" is referenced in the book "Nocturnal Revels or the History of King's-Place and other Modern Nunneries, Vol 2, (London, Goadby) 1779 ["Her it was she first saw the Macaroni Bricklayer, as he is stiled int he print-shops."]

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.ProvenanceBefore 1955, the Old Print Shop (New York, NY); 1955-present, purchased by the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation (Williamsburg, VA).