Richard Brookshaw (1748-c.1779) “The Laughing Boy” Mezzotint Droll

“The Laughing Boy”
Richard Brookshaw (1748-c.1779)
Miniature Mezzotint Droll
Published, Circa 1770's

Measures:-
15.3 cm x 11.8 cm (platemark)

Currently unframed 

Signed within the plate "R.Brookshaw fecit" and titled beneath the image "The Laughing Boy" and "No 50".

Brookshaw was the brother of the publisher and botanical illustrator George Brookshaw (c.1751–1823). The image here depicts "Le Fou de Carnaval" by Abraham Bloemaert after which prints where made by Cornelis Bloemaert as "The Young Rommelpot Player" and also Jean Aubert.

The boy is dressed as the Mardi Gras 'fool' ready for Carnival. His eccentric costume consists of a hat with a spoon, playing cards and a bird wing tucked into it, and he has a string of sausages around his shoulders and a fox's brush and a costrel hanging down his back. He is playing a small drum called a 'rommelpot' (rumbling pot), made from taught leather skin stretched the mouth of a jug; the leather had a hole in it, into which was inserted a rough stick which made a comical (and highly irritating) sawing noise when pulled in and out. Brookshaw probably engraved from print, rather than the original painting.

Very scarce, not in BM. The original painting by Abraham Bloemaert is now in The Kremer Collection, an impression of Cornelis Bloemaert's engraving can be found in the Royal Collection [RCIN 807549].