The Macaroni Print Shop

Edward Topham; Publisher: Matthew Darly · July 14, 1772

Ghezzi's usual method was to portray subjects in profile, distorting their features to comical effect. The English publisher Matthew Darly loosely adapted this format, but unlike Ghezzi, generally satirized types rather than specific people. The humor of Darly's prints depended on the discovery of equivalences across social groups rather than on individual likenesses. In this instance the macaronis share large noses, sharp chins, and silly grins as they inspect caricatures in a shop window. The shop is Darly's own establishment at 39 Strand, known as the Macaroni Print Shop because of his success in satirizing the habitually mocked group known as macaronis.