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Doctor Gruel

October 3, 1771
Not on view
This image 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. This etching likely satirizes either the primeminister William Petty, Earl of Shelburne, 1st Marquis Lansdowne, or Sir Nash Grose, more likely the latter because the latter was a judge, and the figure wears a legal wig.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Doctor Gruel
  • Series/Portfolio: 24 Caricatures by Several Ladies, Gentlemen, Artists, &c.
  • Publisher: Matthias Darly (British, ca. 1720–1780 London)
  • Publisher: Mary Darly (British, active 1760–81)
  • Sitter: Possibly represents William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne and 1st Marquess of Lansdowne (British, 1735–1805)
  • Sitter: Possibly represents Sir Nash Grose (British, 1740–1814)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: October 3, 1771
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: plate: 6 1/4 x 4 1/4 in. (15.8 x 10.8 cm)
    sheet: 8 13/16 x 5 7/16 in. (22.4 x 13.8 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2011
  • Object Number: 2011.88(18)
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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