Maccaroni Club

Although it didn’t exist as a physical club, the term ‘Maccaroni Club’ was conjured as a collective term for the young gentlemen who came back from the Grand Tour with a taste for Continental food (as in macaroni) as well as Continental fashions and manners. They typically wore tall powdered wigs, favoured pastel colours and loved embellishment on their coats and waistcoats. Although this gentleman wears a modestly sized pig-tail wig tied with ribbon, he does have a brightly coloured coat decorated with silver braid and black embroidery on his frilled chemise as would befit a macaroni!

The portrait is signed bottom right GS for Gervase Spencer. It is set in what appears to be the original gold frame backed with foiled blue glass.

Gervase Spencer’s career as a miniaturist began whilst he was working as a footman in a London household during the 1740s. He appears to have been self-taught as an artist and went on to exhibit at the Society of Artists 1761-1762.