Well-a-day, Is this my Son Tom

Probably after Samuel Hieronymus Grimm Swiss
Publisher Carington Bowles I British

Not on view

The extremes of "macaroni" male fashion are mocked in this image which shows a fashionably dressed young man encountering his father during a visit home to the country. The older man, wearing the loose old-fashioned suit of a prosperous farmer, greets Tom with consternation. After living in London, the youth has adopted the dress favored by British dandies of the 1770s: tight breeches tied at the knee with ribbands, two watches seals falling below his waistcoat, a long tasseled walking stick and an enormous toupee wig adorned with side curls and a huge "club" hanging down the back. The ridiculous size of the headpiece is accentuated with a tiny cocked hat.

Well-a-day, Is this my Son Tom, Probably after Samuel Hieronymus Grimm (Swiss, Bern 1733–1794 London (active Britain from 1768)), Etching and engraving

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