Joseph Goupy (c.1689–1769)

Joseph Goupy (c.1689–1769)
Thou tunefull scarecrow & thou warbling bird...
Etching
31.5 x 19.7cm; 12½ x 7¾in (image)

Provenance:
Property of a former museum keeper, collected between the 1930s and 1970s

The present work is a satire on the popularity of masquerades and the decline of Italian opera in London with caricatures of the singers Francesca Cuzzoni, the tall, thin "scarecrow" Farinelli and the impresario John James Heidegger.