[Darly (Matthew And Mary)] The Dog Barber. Engraving After Henry William Bunbury. Engraving

Engraving, 155 x 105 mm, mounted. "This underfed Frenchman, ready to groom a hapless poodle, comes from a set of twenty-four caricatures that Matthew and Mary Darly published in 1771. A husband-and-wife team, the Darlys developed a new British print genre--small etched caricatures of single figures against plain backgrounds, their identities indicated through dress, pose and a few props. Many of these works mocked the fashionable manners of contemporary London dandies called "macaronis," and the Darly's wares soon became known as macaroni prints no matter what their subjects. The implied Italian connection was in fact appropriate, since the basic form was inspired by Ghezzi's caricature drawings brought back from Rome by Grand Tourists. The form and subjects adapted by the Darlys tickled British tastes and broadened the scope of Ghezzi's works to include a range of social classes, known figures, and types. "The Dog Barber," showing a foreign tradesman, was designed by the skilled amateur Henry William Bunbury."—The Met.