A Suggested response for Art Activity 5: “Take two satirical prints produced between 1770 and 1830, with similar themes. Then compare how each print has uniquely utilised humour, distortion, imagery and text to make specific social and/or political comments”

Before we begin….

Some Definitions •  Fop – A man who is considered foolish and particularly vain in character. Completely absorbed with his appearance. Popular term in the 17th century. •  Macaroni – A fashionable, outspoken and outlandish personality who is deemed excessive in all aspects of his character. Adopts “Eurocentric” inflections in style, language and manner.Term used in the 18th century and was sometimes applied to women. •  Dandy – A self-made man. A ‘gallant’ who leads a flamboyant lifestyle not dissimilar to the Macaroni and the Fop. The Dandy specifically evolved from a lower class of men, who attempted to rise to an elite standing, through the imitation of certain pretensions. Term popular at the end of the 18th and during the 19th centuries, and was sometimes applied to women.

Some Examples

Detail from a Portrait of Mr. Cibber as the character of Lord Foppington from The Careless Husband, c.1720. British Museum, London.

Detail from Anon., A Macaroni Painter, or Billy Dimple sitting for his Picture, published by Bowles & Carver, 1772. British Museum, London.

Detail from George Cruikshank, Lacing in Style – or a Dandy Midshipman preparing for attraction!!!, published by Thomas Tegg, 6 March 1819. British Museum, London.

The problem with decadence…is that you can’t lace your own corset.

Tight Lacing, or Fashion before Ease This is a print about a woman’s fashion extremes – her determination to get the season’s latest macaroni look, even at the expense of her own comfort. Sound familiar?

Print after John Collet, Tight Lacing, or Fashion before Ease, published by Bowles & Carver, 1777. British Museum, London.

‘Affected’ by Fashion

The Omnipresent mirror Fashionably HIGH hair Excruciatingly tight corset A Ladies maid An African servant wearing a turban and livery. A groomed lapdog An ‘exotic’ monkey A suitor with a powdered wig Parasol “Chinoise” Vase

The text that the monkey points to in the open book says: “Fashions Victim a Satire”

Women and Fashion Women were the subject of numerous satires attacking the follies of fashion. Yet underneath the ridicule of exaggerated hair and clothing is, perhaps, a wider comment on the excesses of the upper classes. The visual distortions are therefore a criticism on these extremes. But what does this mockery of women say about how they were perceived in society?

Anon., The Extravaganza, or the mountain headdress of 1776, published 10 April 1776. British Museum, London.

Anon., The Female Pyramid, published in the Oxford Magazine, 1771. British Museum, London.

Fashion Icon One of the most influential women on fashion during the 1770’s and 1780’s was Marie Antoinette. Every woman wanted to emulate the French queen who had notoriously decadent taste – not only in fashion, but also lifestyle. Marie’s opulence did not go unnoticed by the general public, and she was regularly criticized for her extravagance in the face of social and political challenges in France. Her follies would later be publicly reprimanded – at the guillotine! Elizabeth Vigee le Brun, Queen Marie Antoinette of France, 1778. Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

Appropriation: The Collet print – a simple joke on contemporary excesses of fashion – provided a useful metaphor for a political satire by James Gillray. Gillray’s print (also titled ‘Fashion before Ease’) likens the influence of new egalitarian ideas on the ‘constitution’ of England, to the process of squeezing a woman into a corset. Thus the most popular Republican idealist of the time (Thomas Paine) is shown forcing the buxom figure of Britannia into a corset – and she is clearly distressed.

The Fe-male

An English Gentleman The English Gentleman in the 18th century was not a fixed concept, and its notion was interpreted in different ways. However, a number of core qualities emerged: Moderate Reserved Classically Educated Pious Fair and evenhanded Trustworthy / Reliable An extract from: Richard Braithwate, The English gentleman containing sundry excellent rules or exquisite observations, tending to direction of every gentleman, of selecter ranke and qualitie; how to demeane or accommodate himselfe in the manage of publike or private affaires, 1630. Cambridge University Library.

What is this my Son Tom A father can’t believe his eyes, when he meets his son, only to find him dressed in the latest Macaroni fashion. The poem beneath the print reveals: “Our wise Forefathers would express Ev'n Sensibility in Dress ; The modern Race delight to Shew What Folly in Excess can do. The honest Farmer come to town, Can scarce believe his Son his own. If thus the Taste continues Here, What will it be another Year?”

Anon., What is this my Son Tom, published by Robert Sayer, 24 June 1774. Library of Congress, Washington DC.

“ Nor least, though last, that taper, thin, two legged bagatelle—that soft faced, soft hearted thing, with a great head, and nothing in it, thy well beloved macaroni; for thee he dances, ogles, dresses ; for thee he trips on tiptoe, limps like a sempstress, skips upon carpets, and ambles round ladies' knees ; for thee he quits his manhood, and is that amphibious, despicable thing that we see him. Great is thy empire О Fashion ! and great is thy mischief: for thou leadest thy votaries astray—thou leadest them to infamy, ruin and tears.” The Juvenile Port-folio, and Literary Miscellany, edited by Thomas Condie, (London, 1813), p.214.

The New and Improved Tom? Tom greets his father a changed man. The farmer’s son was once a simple rural lad and has now emerged from the city a fully fledged macaroni. Notice: His tall, powdered, feminine wig, topped with a small corniced hat. Expensive patterned costume But also notice the fencing sword Tom carries, which is smaller usual, and on which hangs a flower…little explanation is needed for this metaphor! The effeminacy of the Macaroni contributed to the ambiguous nature of the disguise/character. Many men used their Macaroni costume as a means of attracting women…an attraction through emulation, it can be argued.

The New and Improved Tom? Macaronis derived much of their taste and behavior from time spend on the Grand Tour. The Grand Tour was an educational and cultural rite of passage for all well-heeled young gentlemen, that consisted of an extended visit to Europe - particularly Paris Venice and Rome. Whilst the trip was supposed to offer a classical education on the ancient cultures of Europe (seen ‘first hand), it soon became renowned as a play-boy’s holiday, where men would act liberally without the restraints of ‘home’. Macaronis brought continental taste to the English metropolis, and the mixture created an unusual hybrid, that was relentlessly mimicked and caricatured.

Henry Bunbury, The St. James’s Macaroni, published by J. Bretherton, 29 March 1772. British Museum, London.

What is this my Son Tom What a contrast between father and son – roughness versus delicacy, stocky versus slim build, Country versus Urbane. The father seems to be mocking his son as he laughs holding his stomach, and pointing to the small hat on his son’s head. Tom however, appears quite serious in his appearance. The underlying message of this print, seems to be about the corruption of innocence at the hands of the city – a city that promotes and encourages the “folly in excess” noted in the accompanying poem.

Performing Opulence, or, Celebrity “In its complex relations between highly theatricalized public behavior and the print media, the macaroni craze marked the nexus between fashion, celebrity and print culture that is a distinguishing feature of modern consumer society.” (From An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age, Oxford University Press, 2001, p.506.)

So, are the Men and Women Macaroni’s of the 18th century, simply the equivalent to the modern day Footballers and WAG’s?…Think about it…

A Suggested response for Art Activity 5: “Take two satirical prints produced between 1770 and 1830, with similar themes. Then compare how each print has uniquely utilised humour, distortion, imagery and text to make specific social and/or political comments”