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{{short description|English printsellers and caricaturists}}
'''Mary and Matthew Darly''' were [[English]] printsellers and [[caricaturists]] during the [[1770s]]. '''Mary Darly''' (fl. [[1756]]-[[1779]]) was a printseller, caricaturist, artist, [[engraver]], writer, and teacher. She wrote, illustrated, and published the first book on caricature drawing, ''A Book of Caricaturas'' (c. [[1762]]), aimed at "young gentlemen and ladies."<ref> http://www.npg.org.uk/live/arccari3.asp</ref> Mary was the wife of '''Matthew Darly''', also called '''Matthias''',<ref>See Mark Bryant, “The Mother of Pictorial Satire, ''History Today'', April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, p. 58-9.</ref>, a [[London]] printseller, furniture designer, and engraver. Mary was evidently the second wife of Matthew; his first was named Elizabeth Harold.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref>
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
[[File:Mungomacaroni.gif|thumb|200px|right|British print from copper engraving by Mary and Matthew Darly (from a drawing by [[Henry Angelo]]), part of a famous 1771-1773 series on "Macaronis" by the Darlys. The "Mungo Macaroni" (Mungo - a name of a slave character from a comic opera) is based on [[Julius Soubise]].]]
'''Mary and Matthew Darly'''<ref name="Stroomberg">{{cite book|last1=Stroomberg|first1=Harriet J.| title=Matthew en Mary Darly: Graveurs, uitgevers en verkopers van prenten in London 1748-1781 in Die Boekenwereld No 13 (1996-97)|date=1997| pages=229–241| publisher=Vantilt|location=Nijmegen, Netherlands }}</ref> were [[England|English]] printsellers and [[caricaturists]] during the 1770s.<ref name="Bryant">{{cite book|last1=Bryant|first1=Mark|title=Dictionary of British Cartoonists and Caricaturists, 1730-198|date=1994|publisher=Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd|location=London, England| page=54| isbn=978-0859679763}}</ref> '''Mary Darly''' ([[floruit|fl.]] 1756&ndash;1779) was a printseller, caricaturist, artist, [[engraver]], writer, and teacher. She wrote, illustrated, and published the first book on caricature drawing, ''A Book of Caricaturas'' [sic] (c. 1762),<ref>{{cite book|last1=Darly|first1=Mary|title=A book of Caricaturas with ye Principles of Designing in ye Droll and Pleasing Manner|date=1762|location=London, England }}</ref> aimed at "young gentlemen and ladies."<ref name="npg.org.uk">[http://www.npg.org.uk/live/arccari3.asp National Portrait Gallery | Search the Collection | Archive Collection | Caricatures | The Role of the Amateur<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Mary was the wife of '''Matthew Darly''', also called '''Matthias''' ([[floruit|fl.]] 1741&ndash;1778),<ref>See Mark Bryant, "The Mother of Pictorial Satire," ''History Today'', April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, p. 58-9.</ref> a [[London]] printseller, furniture designer, and engraver. Mary was evidently the second wife of Matthew; his first was named Elizabeth Harold.<ref name="Constance Simon 1905">Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref>


==Matthew Darly==
==Matthew Darly==
During the first part of his career, Matthew Darly moved from one part of the Strand to other, but he always called his shops the “Acorn” or the “Golden Acorn.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref> He may have begun his career as an [[architect]] but then moved into caricature, and soon acquired fame.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref> It was written of [[Richard Cosway]] that “so ridiculously foppish did he become that Matth. Darly the famous caricature print seller, introduced an etching of him in his window in the Strand as the ‘[[Macaroni (fashion)|Macaroni]] Miniature Painter.’”<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref>
Apprenticed to the clockmaker Umfraville Sampson in 1735,<ref name="BMbio">{{cite web |title=Matthew Darly (British Museum Biographical details) | url=http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=127680}}</ref> Darly himself took on four apprentices between 1752 and 1778.<ref name="Worms">{{cite book|last1=Worms|first1=Laurence|last2=Baynton-Williams| first2=Ashley| title=British Map Engravers: A Dictionary of Engravers, Lithographers and Their Principal Employers to 1850|date=2011|publisher=Rare Book Society|location=London, England| isbn=978-0956942203}}</ref> During the first part of his career, Matthew Darly moved from one part of the [[Strand, London|Strand]] to other, but he always called his shops the "Acorn" or the "Golden Acorn."<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/> He may have begun his career as an [[architect]]<ref>[[Howard Colvin]], ''A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840'', 3rd ed. (Yale University Press) 1995, ''s.v.'' "Matthias Darly".</ref> but then moved into furniture designs and caricature, and soon acquired fame.<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/> It was written of [[Richard Cosway]] that "so ridiculously foppish did he become that Matth. Darly the famous caricature print seller, introduced an etching of him in his window in the Strand as the ‘[[Macaroni (fashion)|Macaroni]] Miniature Painter.'"<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/>


Matthias Darly not only issued political caricatures, but designed ceilings, [[chimney]] pieces, mirror frames, [[girandoles]], decorative panels and other mobiliary accessories, made many engravings for [[Thomas Chippendale]], and sold his own productions over the counter. The first publication which can be attributed to him with certainty is a colored caricature, ''The Cricket Players of Europe'' (1741). In 1754 he issued a new ''Book of Chinese Designs'', which was intended to minister to the passing craze for furniture and household decorations in the [[China|Chinese]] style. It was in this year that he engraved many of the plates for the Director of Thomas Chippendale. He published from many addresses, most of them in the Strand or its immediate neighborhood, and his shop was for a long period perhaps the most important of its kind in [[London]].
Matthias Darly not only issued political caricatures, but designed ceilings, [[chimney]] pieces, mirror frames, [[girandole]]s, decorative panels and other furnishing accessories, He engraved many of [[Thomas Chippendale]]'s designs for ''The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director'' (plates dated 1753 and 1754, and plates in the second edition, 1762), and sold his own productions over the counter. The first publication which can be attributed to him with certainty is a colored caricature, ''The Cricket Players of Europe'' (1741). In 1754, with a partner, Edwards,<ref>The plates are signed "Edwds et Darley Invt et Sculp" Peter Ward-Jackson, ''English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century'' (London: H.M.S.O.) 1958, p. 47 and pls.128-34.</ref> he issued ''A New Book of Chinese Designs'', which was intended to minister to the passing craze for furniture and household decorations in the fanciful [[chinoiserie]] style, and also included some Rococo whimsical chairs and tables to be made out of gnarled roots.<ref>Ward-Jackson 1958, pls 133-34.</ref> It was in this year that he engraved many of the plates for Chippendale's ''Director''. ''A New Book of Ceilings'' followed in 1760. He published from many addresses, most of them in the Strand or its immediate neighborhood, and his shop was for a long period perhaps the most important of its kind in [[London]].


Darly was for many years in partnership with a man named Edwards, and together they published many political prints, which were originally issued separately and collected annually into volumes under the title of ''Political and Satirical History''. Darly was a member both of the Incorporated Society of Artists and the Free Society of Artists, forerunners of the [[Royal Academy]], and to their exhibitions he contributed many architectural drawings, together with a profile etching of himself (1775). Upon one of these etchings, published from 39 Strand, he is described as Professor of Ornament to the Academy of Great Britain.
Darly was for many years in partnership with a man named Edwards, and together they published many political prints, which were originally issued separately and collected annually into volumes under the title of ''Political and Satirical History''. Darly was a member both of the [[Society of Artists of Great Britain|Incorporated Society of Artists]] and the [[Society of Artists of Great Britain|Free Society of Artists]], forerunners and unsuccessful rivals of the [[Royal Academy]], and to their exhibitions he contributed many architectural drawings, together with a profile etching of himself (1775). Upon one of these etchings, published from 39 Strand, he is described as Professor of Ornament to the Academy of Great Britain.


Darly's most important publication was ''The Ornamental Architect or Young Arust's Instructor'' (1770-1771), a title which was changed in the edition of 1773 to ''A Compleat Body of Architecture, embellished with a great Variety of Ornaments''. He also issued ''Sixty Vases by English, French and Italian Masters'' (1767). In addition to his immense mass of other productions Darly executed many book plates, illustrated various books and cabinet-makers catalogues, and gave lessons in etching.
Darly's most important publication— his chief claim to being credited as an architect— was ''The Ornamental Architect or Young Artist's Instructor...Consisting of the Five Orders drawn with their Embellishments'' (1770–1771), a title which was changed in the edition of 1773 to ''A Compleat Body of Architecture, embellished with a great Variety of Ornaments''.<ref>Colvin 1995; Eileen Harris, ''British Architectural Books and Writers1556-1785'' 1990:176-78.</ref> He also issued ''Sixty Vases by English, French and Italian Masters'' (1767). In addition to his immense mass of other productions Darly executed many book plates, illustrated various books and cabinet-makers' catalogues, and gave lessons in etching.


His skill as a caricaturist brought him into close personal relations with the politicians of his time, and in 1763 he was instrumental in saving [[John Wilkes]], whose partisan he was, from death at the hands of James Dunn, who had determined to kill him. Darly, who described himself as [[Liveryman]] and block maker, issued his last caricature in October 1780, and as his shop, No. 39 Strand, was let to a new tenant in the following year, it is to be presumed that he had by that time died, or become incapable of further work.
His skill as a caricaturist brought him into close personal relations with the politicians of his time, and in 1763 he was instrumental in saving [[John Wilkes]], whose partisan he was, from death at the hands of James Dunn, who had determined to kill him. Darly, who described himself as [[Liveryman]] and block maker, issued his last caricature in October 1780, and as his shop, No. 39 Strand, was let to a new tenant in the following year, it is to be presumed that he had by that time died, or become incapable of further work.


==The Darlys==
==The Darlys==
[[File:The ridiculous taste or the ladies absurdity (CBL Wep 0494.34).jpg|thumb|''The ridiculous taste or the ladies absurdity''. Hand-coloured etching from an album of comic illustrations under the title Darly's Prints of Characters, Caricatures, Macaronies &c., published by Mary and Matthew Darly in London in 1768. [[Chester Beatty Library]]]]
By 1756, the husband-and-wife team had printshops on [[Fleet Street]] and the [[Strand, London|Strand]].<ref>http://www.npg.org.uk/live/arccari3.asp</ref> Mary was the sole manager of the branch at “The Acorn, Ryders Court (Cranbourne Alley), [[Leicester Fields]].<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref> Mary advertised in the daily papers in her own name as “etcher and publisher.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref> She was one of the first professional caricaturists in England.<ref>Mark Bryant, “The Mother of Pictorial Satire, ''History Today'', April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, p. 58-9.</ref>
By 1756, the husband-and-wife team had printshops in [[Fleet Street]] and the [[Strand, London|Strand]].<ref name="npg.org.uk"/> Mary was the sole manager of the branch at "The Acorn, Ryders Court (Cranbourne Alley), [[Leicester Fields]]."<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/> Mary advertised in the daily papers in her own name as "etcher and publisher."<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/> She was one of the first professional caricaturists in England.<ref name="Mark Bryant 2007, p. 58-9">Mark Bryant, "The Mother of Pictorial Satire," ''History Today'', April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, pp. 58-9.</ref>


The Darlys’ shops, some of the first to specialize in caricature, initially concentrated on political themes, but then focused on world of fashion.<ref>Mark Bryant, “The Mother of Pictorial Satire,” ''History Today'', April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, p. 58-9.</ref> Their etchings and engravings included “Wigs” (October 12 1773), “The Preposterous Head Dress, or the Featherd Lady” (March 20 1776), [[Phaeton (carriage)|Phaetona]] or Modern Female Taste” (November 6, 1776); “Miss Shuttle-Cock” (December 6, 1776); and “Oh. Heigh. Oh. Or a View of the Back Settlements” (July 9, 1776), a play on words that refers to [[Ohio Territory]].<ref>http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/exhibitions/hair/</ref>
The Darlys' shops, some of the first to specialize in caricature, initially concentrated on political themes in the 1750s, at a time of political crises, but then focused on world of fashion.<ref name="Mark Bryant 2007, p. 58-9"/> "They seem to have been shrewd business people, changing their output in response to the fashion of the day."<ref>[http://www.victoriagal.org.uk/index.cfm?fuseAction=collection.disp&objectID=batvg_pd_1983_42 Victoria Art Gallery – Victoria Art Gallery<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> Their etchings and engravings included "Wigs" (12 October 1773), "The Preposterous Head Dress, or the Featherd Lady" (20 March 1776), "[[Phaeton (carriage)|Phaetona]] or Modern Female Taste" (6 November 1776); "Miss Shuttle-Cock" (6 December 1776); and "Oh. Heigh. Oh. Or a View of the Back Settlements" (9 July 1776), a play on words that refers to [[Ohio Country]].<ref>[http://www.library.yale.edu/walpole/html/exhibitions/hair/ Yale University Library]</ref>


The Darlys also offered drawing lessons to upperclass men and women.<ref>Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 171.</ref>
The Darlys also offered drawing lessons to upperclass men and women.<ref>Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 171.</ref>
Matthew and Mary Darly fueled a rage for caricatures in London, flooding the market with prints on social life, such as those lampooning the so-called "[[Macaroni (fashion)|macaronis]]."<ref>Shearer West, “The Darly Macaroni Prints and the Politics of "Private Man", ''Eighteenth-Century Life'', 2001; 25: 170-182.</ref> During the 1770s, the Darlys sold a variety of prints at a wide range of prices and to a customers from various social classes. Their prints included depictions of prostitutes, market vendors, maidservants, and other women of the age.<ref>Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 45.</ref>


The Darlys relocated their shop from Fleet Street to the West End as the craze for homemade caricatures grew. At their West End shop, they published between 1771 and 1773 six sets of satirical "[[macaroni (fashion)|macaroni]]" prints, each set containing 24 portraits.<ref name="muse.jhu.edu">[http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/eighteenth-century_studies/v038/38.1rauser.html Amelia F. (Amelia Faye) Rauser - Hair, Authenticity, and the Self-Made Macaroni - Eighteenth-Century Studies 38:1<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref> The new Darly shop became known as "The Macaroni Print-Shop".<ref name="muse.jhu.edu"/> Matthew and Mary Darly fueled a rage for caricatures in London, flooding the market with prints on social life, such as those lampooning the so-called "macaronis."<ref>Shearer West, "The Darly Macaroni Prints and the Politics of 'Private Man'", ''Eighteenth-Century Life'', 2001; 25: 170-182.</ref>
They also engraved the drawings of others. The Darlys advertised that "Ladies to whom the fumes of the Aqua Fortis are Noxious may have their Plates carefully Bit, and proved, and may be attended at their own Houses, and have ev’ry necessary instruction in any part of Engraving, Etching, Dry Needle, Metzotinto, etc..."<ref>Quoted in Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 23.</ref>


During the 1770s, the Darlys sold a variety of prints at a wide range of prices and to customers from various social classes. Their prints included depictions of prostitutes, market vendors, maidservants, and other women of the age.<ref>Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 45.</ref>
The Darlys advertised for amateurs to submit sketches for publication.<ref> http://www.npg.org.uk/live/arccari3.asp</ref> They held an exhibition of amateur prints, such as of “several laughable Subjects, droll Figures, and sundry Characters.<ref> http://www.npg.org.uk/live/arccari3.asp</ref>


They also engraved the drawings of others. The Darlys advertised that "Ladies to whom the fumes of the Aqua Fortis are Noxious may have their Plates carefully Bit, and proved, and may be attended at their own Houses, and have ev’ry necessary instruction in any part of Engraving, Etching, Dry Needle, [[Mezzotint|Metzotinto]], etc..."<ref>Quoted in Cindy McCreery, ''The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England'' (Oxford University Press, 2004), 23.</ref>
[[Ince and Mayhew]] employed Matthew Darly as an engraver. [[William Austin (British caricaturist)|William Austin]] was a rival of the Darlys.


The Darlys advertised for amateurs to submit sketches for publication.<ref name="npg.org.uk"/> They held an exhibition of amateur prints, such as of "several laughable Subjects, droll Figures, and sundry Characters."<ref name="npg.org.uk"/>
The Darlys were responsible for bringing [[Henry Burberry|Henry Burberry's]] talents as a humorous caricaturist to public attention by publishing his work, and [[Anthony Pasquin]] had studied in the earlier part of his career at Matthew Darly’s studio.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref>


The furniture-makers [[Ince and Mayhew]] employed Matthew Darly as an engraver. [[William Austin (British caricaturist)|William Austin]] was a rival of the Darlys.
There was a small engraved portrait of Mary Darly in the Print Room of the [[British Museum]]; it is called “The Female Connoisseur” (February 1772). She is depicted examining a caricature sketch.<ref>Constance Simon, ''English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century'' (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.</ref>

The Darlys were responsible for bringing [[Henry Bunbury (caricaturist)|Henry Bunbury]]'s talents as a humorous caricaturist to public attention by publishing his work, and [[Anthony Pasquin]] had studied in the earlier part of his career at Matthew Darly’s studio.<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/>

There was a small engraved portrait of Mary Darly in the Print Room of the [[British Museum]];<ref name="DorothyGeorge">{{cite book|last1=George| first1=M Dorothy |title='Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum |publisher=The British Museum| date=1870–1954| location=London}}</ref> it is called "The Female Connoisseur" (February 1772). She is depicted examining a caricature sketch.<ref name="Constance Simon 1905"/>


== References ==
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
{{reflist}}
*{{1911|wstitle=Darly, Matthias |volume=7 |page=835}}
*{{1911}}

[[Category:English caricaturists|Darly, Mary and Matthew]]
== External links ==
[[Category:English engravers|Darly, Mary and Matthew]]
* [https://www.lambiek.net/artists/d/darly_matthew_mary.htm Lambiek Comiclopedia article about Matthew and Mary Darly]
{{authority control|additional=auto}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darly, Mary And Matthew}}
[[Category:English caricaturists]]
[[Category:English cartoonists]]
[[Category:English engravers]]
[[Category:English furniture designers]]
[[Category:Married couples]]
[[Category:18th-century English businesspeople]]

Latest revision as of 11:36, 17 May 2023

British print from copper engraving by Mary and Matthew Darly (from a drawing by Henry Angelo), part of a famous 1771-1773 series on "Macaronis" by the Darlys. The "Mungo Macaroni" (Mungo - a name of a slave character from a comic opera) is based on Julius Soubise.

Mary and Matthew Darly[1] were English printsellers and caricaturists during the 1770s.[2] Mary Darly (fl. 1756–1779) was a printseller, caricaturist, artist, engraver, writer, and teacher. She wrote, illustrated, and published the first book on caricature drawing, A Book of Caricaturas [sic] (c. 1762),[3] aimed at "young gentlemen and ladies."[4] Mary was the wife of Matthew Darly, also called Matthias (fl. 1741–1778),[5] a London printseller, furniture designer, and engraver. Mary was evidently the second wife of Matthew; his first was named Elizabeth Harold.[6]

Matthew Darly

[edit]

Apprenticed to the clockmaker Umfraville Sampson in 1735,[7] Darly himself took on four apprentices between 1752 and 1778.[8] During the first part of his career, Matthew Darly moved from one part of the Strand to other, but he always called his shops the "Acorn" or the "Golden Acorn."[6] He may have begun his career as an architect[9] but then moved into furniture designs and caricature, and soon acquired fame.[6] It was written of Richard Cosway that "so ridiculously foppish did he become that Matth. Darly the famous caricature print seller, introduced an etching of him in his window in the Strand as the ‘Macaroni Miniature Painter.'"[6]

Matthias Darly not only issued political caricatures, but designed ceilings, chimney pieces, mirror frames, girandoles, decorative panels and other furnishing accessories, He engraved many of Thomas Chippendale's designs for The Gentleman and Cabinet-Maker's Director (plates dated 1753 and 1754, and plates in the second edition, 1762), and sold his own productions over the counter. The first publication which can be attributed to him with certainty is a colored caricature, The Cricket Players of Europe (1741). In 1754, with a partner, Edwards,[10] he issued A New Book of Chinese Designs, which was intended to minister to the passing craze for furniture and household decorations in the fanciful chinoiserie style, and also included some Rococo whimsical chairs and tables to be made out of gnarled roots.[11] It was in this year that he engraved many of the plates for Chippendale's Director. A New Book of Ceilings followed in 1760. He published from many addresses, most of them in the Strand or its immediate neighborhood, and his shop was for a long period perhaps the most important of its kind in London.

Darly was for many years in partnership with a man named Edwards, and together they published many political prints, which were originally issued separately and collected annually into volumes under the title of Political and Satirical History. Darly was a member both of the Incorporated Society of Artists and the Free Society of Artists, forerunners and unsuccessful rivals of the Royal Academy, and to their exhibitions he contributed many architectural drawings, together with a profile etching of himself (1775). Upon one of these etchings, published from 39 Strand, he is described as Professor of Ornament to the Academy of Great Britain.

Darly's most important publication— his chief claim to being credited as an architect— was The Ornamental Architect or Young Artist's Instructor...Consisting of the Five Orders drawn with their Embellishments (1770–1771), a title which was changed in the edition of 1773 to A Compleat Body of Architecture, embellished with a great Variety of Ornaments.[12] He also issued Sixty Vases by English, French and Italian Masters (1767). In addition to his immense mass of other productions Darly executed many book plates, illustrated various books and cabinet-makers' catalogues, and gave lessons in etching.

His skill as a caricaturist brought him into close personal relations with the politicians of his time, and in 1763 he was instrumental in saving John Wilkes, whose partisan he was, from death at the hands of James Dunn, who had determined to kill him. Darly, who described himself as Liveryman and block maker, issued his last caricature in October 1780, and as his shop, No. 39 Strand, was let to a new tenant in the following year, it is to be presumed that he had by that time died, or become incapable of further work.

The Darlys

[edit]
The ridiculous taste or the ladies absurdity. Hand-coloured etching from an album of comic illustrations under the title Darly's Prints of Characters, Caricatures, Macaronies &c., published by Mary and Matthew Darly in London in 1768. Chester Beatty Library

By 1756, the husband-and-wife team had printshops in Fleet Street and the Strand.[4] Mary was the sole manager of the branch at "The Acorn, Ryders Court (Cranbourne Alley), Leicester Fields."[6] Mary advertised in the daily papers in her own name as "etcher and publisher."[6] She was one of the first professional caricaturists in England.[13]

The Darlys' shops, some of the first to specialize in caricature, initially concentrated on political themes in the 1750s, at a time of political crises, but then focused on world of fashion.[13] "They seem to have been shrewd business people, changing their output in response to the fashion of the day."[14] Their etchings and engravings included "Wigs" (12 October 1773), "The Preposterous Head Dress, or the Featherd Lady" (20 March 1776), "Phaetona or Modern Female Taste" (6 November 1776); "Miss Shuttle-Cock" (6 December 1776); and "Oh. Heigh. Oh. Or a View of the Back Settlements" (9 July 1776), a play on words that refers to Ohio Country.[15]

The Darlys also offered drawing lessons to upperclass men and women.[16]

The Darlys relocated their shop from Fleet Street to the West End as the craze for homemade caricatures grew. At their West End shop, they published between 1771 and 1773 six sets of satirical "macaroni" prints, each set containing 24 portraits.[17] The new Darly shop became known as "The Macaroni Print-Shop".[17] Matthew and Mary Darly fueled a rage for caricatures in London, flooding the market with prints on social life, such as those lampooning the so-called "macaronis."[18]

During the 1770s, the Darlys sold a variety of prints at a wide range of prices and to customers from various social classes. Their prints included depictions of prostitutes, market vendors, maidservants, and other women of the age.[19]

They also engraved the drawings of others. The Darlys advertised that "Ladies to whom the fumes of the Aqua Fortis are Noxious may have their Plates carefully Bit, and proved, and may be attended at their own Houses, and have ev’ry necessary instruction in any part of Engraving, Etching, Dry Needle, Metzotinto, etc..."[20]

The Darlys advertised for amateurs to submit sketches for publication.[4] They held an exhibition of amateur prints, such as of "several laughable Subjects, droll Figures, and sundry Characters."[4]

The furniture-makers Ince and Mayhew employed Matthew Darly as an engraver. William Austin was a rival of the Darlys.

The Darlys were responsible for bringing Henry Bunbury's talents as a humorous caricaturist to public attention by publishing his work, and Anthony Pasquin had studied in the earlier part of his career at Matthew Darly’s studio.[6]

There was a small engraved portrait of Mary Darly in the Print Room of the British Museum;[21] it is called "The Female Connoisseur" (February 1772). She is depicted examining a caricature sketch.[6]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Stroomberg, Harriet J. (1997). Matthew en Mary Darly: Graveurs, uitgevers en verkopers van prenten in London 1748-1781 in Die Boekenwereld No 13 (1996-97). Nijmegen, Netherlands: Vantilt. pp. 229–241.
  2. ^ Bryant, Mark (1994). Dictionary of British Cartoonists and Caricaturists, 1730-198. London, England: Lund Humphries Publishers Ltd. p. 54. ISBN 978-0859679763.
  3. ^ Darly, Mary (1762). A book of Caricaturas with ye Principles of Designing in ye Droll and Pleasing Manner. London, England.
  4. ^ a b c d National Portrait Gallery | Search the Collection | Archive Collection | Caricatures | The Role of the Amateur
  5. ^ See Mark Bryant, "The Mother of Pictorial Satire," History Today, April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, p. 58-9.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Constance Simon, English Furniture Designers of the Eighteenth Century (A.H. Bullen, 1905), 39-51.
  7. ^ "Matthew Darly (British Museum Biographical details)".
  8. ^ Worms, Laurence; Baynton-Williams, Ashley (2011). British Map Engravers: A Dictionary of Engravers, Lithographers and Their Principal Employers to 1850. London, England: Rare Book Society. ISBN 978-0956942203.
  9. ^ Howard Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600-1840, 3rd ed. (Yale University Press) 1995, s.v. "Matthias Darly".
  10. ^ The plates are signed "Edwds et Darley Invt et Sculp" Peter Ward-Jackson, English Furniture Designs of the Eighteenth Century (London: H.M.S.O.) 1958, p. 47 and pls.128-34.
  11. ^ Ward-Jackson 1958, pls 133-34.
  12. ^ Colvin 1995; Eileen Harris, British Architectural Books and Writers1556-1785 1990:176-78.
  13. ^ a b Mark Bryant, "The Mother of Pictorial Satire," History Today, April 2007, Vol. 57, Issue 4, pp. 58-9.
  14. ^ Victoria Art Gallery – Victoria Art Gallery
  15. ^ Yale University Library
  16. ^ Cindy McCreery, The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press, 2004), 171.
  17. ^ a b Amelia F. (Amelia Faye) Rauser - Hair, Authenticity, and the Self-Made Macaroni - Eighteenth-Century Studies 38:1
  18. ^ Shearer West, "The Darly Macaroni Prints and the Politics of 'Private Man'", Eighteenth-Century Life, 2001; 25: 170-182.
  19. ^ Cindy McCreery, The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press, 2004), 45.
  20. ^ Quoted in Cindy McCreery, The Satirical Gaze: Prints of Women in Late Eighteenth-Century England (Oxford University Press, 2004), 23.
  21. ^ George, M Dorothy (1870–1954). 'Catalogue of Political and Personal Satires Preserved in the Department of Prints and Drawings in the British Museum. London: The British Museum.
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