Unknown English
What is this my Son Tom

Public Domain

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Images(3)

Artist Unknown English

Artistpossibly after Samuel Hieronymus GrimmSwiss, 1733–1794, active England

Publisher R. Sayer and J. BennettLondon, 1774/77–1784

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

Not on view

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Department

Bayou Bend

Object Type

PRINTS

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.

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