"Satire on the popularity of masquerades and the decline of Italian opera in London with caricatures of the singers Cuzzoni, the tall, thin "scarecrow" Farinelli and the impresario Heidegger who points to a grenadier's cap hanging on the wall. Farinelli holds a chain attached to a shackle around his ankle, referring to one of his roles; two masks lie at Heidegger's feet. The verses etched below, supposedly in Heidegger's words, state he is more likely to return to the regiment than are "midnight revels" and "Ridottos" to fail."--British Museum online catalogue
Description:
Title, printmaker, and date from British Museum catalogue., With eight lines of English verse below beginning: Thou tunefull scarecrow & thou warbling bird, No shelter for your notes, these lands afford, This town protects no more the sing-song strain ... And save from ruin this harmonious face., Sheet trimmed to plate mark., On page 43 in volume 1., and Ms. note in Steevens's hand below: Imputed to Hogarth; but in reality designed by the Countess of Burlington, and edited by Goupy.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Name):
Heidegger, John James, 1659?-1748., Farinelli, 1705-1782., and Cuzzoni, Francesca, 1696-1778.
