Samuel Hieronymus Grimm
What is this my Son Tom

CultureEnglish
Titles
  • What is this my Son Tom
Date1774
PlaceEngland
MediumMezzotint on laid paper
DimensionsPlate: 13 7/8 × 9 7/8 in. (35.2 × 25.1 cm)
Sheet: 14 3/16 × 10 in. (36 × 25.4 cm)
Credit LineThe Bayou Bend Collection, museum purchase funded by Jack S. Blanton, Jr. in honor of William J. Hill
Object numberB.2015.7
Non exposé

Explore Further

Department
Bayou Bend
Object Type
DescriptionSatirizing the macaroni fad of the 1770s, this print depicts a father’s surprise at his son’s embrace of this fashion. Typical elements include the tight fitting clothes, large sword and walking stick, and the impossibly tall wig surmounted by a tiny hat.
Provenance[Joel R. Bergquist Fine Arts, Nashville, Tennessee]; purchased by MFAH, 2014.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, left: Our wise Forefathers would express / Ev'n Sensibility in Dress ; / The modern Race delight to Shew / What Folly in Excess can do :
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, center: What is this my Son Tom.
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, center bottom edge: London, Publishede by R. Sayer & J. Bennett No. 53 Fleet Street, As the Act directs 24 June 1774 .
Recto: Inscribed in printed ink, below image, right: 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?

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Lady Washington
Samuel Blyth
c. 1776
Mezzotint with watercolor and gouache on laid paper
B.99.8
His Excellency, George Washington Esqr.
Samuel Blyth
c. 1776
Mezzotint with watercolor and gouache on laid paper
B.99.7
Tomo Chachi Mico or King of Yamacraw, and Tooanahowi his Nephew, Son to the Mico of the Etchitas.
John Faber the Younger
c. 1734
Mezzotint with engraving on laid paper
B.2020.4
A Society of Patriotic Ladies, at Edenton, in North Carolina
R. Sayer and J. Bennett
1775
Mezzotint with engraving on laid paper
B.91.35
Portrait of James Ashton Bayard, Sr. (1767–1815)
Charles Balthazar Julien Févret de Saint-Mémin
c. 1801
Mezzotint on laid paper
B.77.20
The Hon[ora]ble S[i]r Wm. Howe, Knight of the Bath and commander in chief of his majesty's forces in America
Richard Purcell (also published as Charles Corbutt)
1777
Mezzotint on laid paper
B.2004.42
Mather Byles
Peter Pelham
c. 1732–1739
Mezzotint on laid paper
B.61.69
Joseph Tayadaneega called the Brant, the Great Captain of the Six Nations
John Raphael Smith
1779
Mezzotint with engraving on laid paper
B.2021.1
Charlotte Queen of Great Britain
Gainsborough Dupont
1790
Mezzotint with engraving on laid paper
B.2018.4
The Bostonians Paying the Excise Man, or Tarring and Feathering
Philip Dawe
1774
Mezzotint with engraving and watercolor on laid paper
B.85.4