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CARICATURE (Ital. caricatura, i.e. "r...

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Originally appearing in Volume V05, Page 336 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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CARICATURE (Ital. caricatura, i.e. "ritratto ridicolo," from caricare, to load, to See also:charge; Fr. charge)  , a See also:general See also:term for the See also:art of applying the See also:grotesque to the purposes of See also:satire, and for pictorial and plastic ridicule and See also:burlesque . The word; " caricatura" was first used as See also:English by See also:Sir See also:Thomas See also:Browne (1605-1682), in his See also:Christian Morals, a See also:posthumous See also:work; it is next found, still in its See also:Italian See also:form, in No . S37 of the Spectator; it was adopted by See also:Johnson in his See also:dictionary (1757), but does not appear in See also:Bailey's dictionary, for example, as See also:late as 1773; and it only assumed its See also:modern See also:guise towards the end of the 18th See also:century, when its use and comprehension became general . Little that is not conjectural can be written concerning See also:caricature among the ancients . Few traces of the comic are discoverable in See also:Egyptian art—such papyri of a satirical tendency as are known to exist appearing to belong rather to the class of ithyphallic drolleries than to that of the ironical grotesque . Among the Greeks, though but few and dubious data are extant, it seems possible that caricature may not have been altogether unknown . Their See also:taste for pictorial See also:parody, indeed, has been sufficiently proved by plentiful discoveries of pottery painted with burlesque subjects . See also:Aristotle, moreover, who disapproved of grotesque art, condemns in strong terms the pictures of a certain Pauson, who, alluded to by See also:Aristophanes, and the subject of one of See also:Lucian's anecdotes, is hailed by Champfleury as the See also:doyen of caricaturists . That the grotesque in graphic art conceived in the true spirit of intentional caricature was practised by the See also:Romans is evident from the curious frescoes uncovered at See also:Pompeii and See also:Herculaneum; from the mention in See also:Pliny of certain painters celebrated for burlesque pictures; from the curious fantasies graven in gems and called Grylli; and from the number of ithyphallic caprices that have descended to modern times . But in spite of these evidences of See also:Greek and See also:Roman See also:humour, in spite of the famous comic statuette of Cara-calla, and of the more famous See also:graffito of the Crucifixion, the caricaturists of the old See also:world must be sought for, not among its painters and sculptors, but among its poets and dramatists . The comedies of Aristophanes and the epigrams of See also:Martial were, to the See also:Athens of See also:Pericles and the See also:Rome of See also:Domitian, what the etchings of See also:Gillray and the lithographs of D aumier were to the See also:London of See also:George III. and the See also:Paris of the See also:Citizen See also:King . During the See also:middle ages a vast See also:mass of grotesque material was accumulated, but selection becomes even more difficult than with the scarce See also:relics of antiquity .

With the See also:

building of the cathedrals originated a new See also:style of art; a See also:strange mixture of memories of paganism and Christian imaginings was called into being for the adornment of those See also:great strongholds of See also:urban Catholicism, and in this the coarse and brutal See also:materialism of the popular humour found its largest and freest expression . On See also:missal-marge and sign-See also:board, on See also:stall and See also:entablature, ingargoyle and initial, the grotesque displayed itself in an See also:infinite variety of forms . The import of this inextricable tangle of imagery, often obscene and horrible, often See also:quaint and fantastic, is difficult, if not impossible, to determine . We recognize the prevalence of three great popular types or figures, each of which may be credited with a satirical intention—of Reynard the See also:Fox, the See also:hero of the famous See also:medieval See also:romance; of the See also:Devil, that peculiarly medieval See also:antithesis of See also:God; and of See also:Death, the sarcastic and irreverent See also:skeleton . The popularity of the last is evidenced by the fact that no fewer than See also:forty-three towns in See also:England, See also:France and See also:Germany are enumerated as possessing sets of the See also:Dance of Death, that grandiose all-levelling See also:series of caprices in the contemplation of which the middle ages found so much See also:consolation . It was reserved for See also:Holbein (1498-154), seizing the See also:idea and resuming all that his contemporaries thought and See also:felt on the subject, to produce, in his fifty-three magnificent designs of the Danse See also:Macabre, the first and perhaps the greatest set of satirical moralities known to the modern world . It is in the tumult of the See also:Renaissance, indeed, that caricature in its modern sense may be said to have been See also:born . The great popular movements required some such vehicle of comment or censure; the perfection to which the arts of See also:design were attaining supplied the means; the invention of See also:printing ensured its dissemination . The earliest genuine piece of graphic See also:irony that has been discovered is a caricature (1499) See also:relating to See also:Louis XII. and his Italian See also:war . But it was the See also:Reformation that produced the first full See also:crop of satirical ephemerae, and the heads of See also:Luther and See also:Alexander VI. are therefore the See also:direct ancestors of the masks that smirk and frown from the " cartoons" of See also:Punch and the See also:Charivari . Fairly started by See also:Lucas See also:Cranach, a friend of Luther, in his Passionate of See also:Christ and See also:Antichrist (1521), caricature was naturalized in France under the See also:League, but only to pass into the hands of the Dutch, who supplied the See also:rest of See also:Europe with satirical prints during the whole of the next century . A curious reaction is visible in the work of Pieter See also:Breughel (1510-1570) towards the grotesque diablerie and macaberesque morality of medieval art, the last See also:original and striking See also:note of which is caught in the compositions of Jacques See also:Callot (1593-1635), and, in a less degree, in those of his followers, Stefano della Bella (1610-a664) and Salvator See also:Rosa (1615-1673) .

On the other See also:

hand, however, Callot, one of the greatest masters of the grotesque that ever lived, in certain of his Caprices, and in his two famous sets of prints, the Miseres de la guerre, may be said to anticipate certain productions of See also:Hogarth and See also:Goya, and so to have founded the modern school of ironic genre . In England one of the earliest caricatures extant is that in the margin of the See also:Forest See also:Roll of See also:Essex, 5, ed . 1, now at the See also:Record See also:Office; it is a grotesque portrait of "See also:Aaron fil Diabole" (Aaron, son of the devil), probably representing Cok, son of Aaron . It is dated 1277 . Another caricature, undated, appears on a Roll containing an See also:account of the tallages and fines paid by See also:Jews, 17 . See also:Henry III., belonging to 1233 (Exch. of See also:Receipt, Jews' Roll, No . 8) . It is an elaborate satirical design of Jews and devils, arranged in a See also:pediment . During the 16th century, caricature can hardly be said to have existed at all,—a grotesque of See also:Mary See also:Stuart as a mermaid, a See also:pen and See also:ink See also:sketch of which is yet to be seen in the Rolls Office, being the only example of it known . The Great See also:Rebellion, however, acted as the Reformation had done in Germany, and Cavaliers and Roundheads caricatured each other freely . At this See also:period satirical pictures usually did See also:duty as the See also:title-pages of scurrilous See also:pamphlets; but one instance is known of the employment during the war of a grotesque See also:allegory as a banner, while the end of the See also:Commonwealth produced a satirical See also:pack of playing See also:cards, probably of Dutch origin . The Dutch, indeed, as already has been stated, were the great purveyors of pictorial satire at this See also:time and during the See also:early See also:part of the next century .

In England the wit of the victorious party was rather vocal than pictorial;,in France the spirit of caricature was sternly repressed; and it was from See also:

Holland, bold in its republican freedom, and See also:rich in painters and etchers, that issued the See also:flood of prints and medals which illustrate, through cumbrous allegories and elaborate symbolization, the See also:principal See also:political passages of both the former countries, from the Restoration (166o) to the See also:South See also:Sea Bubble (1720) . The most distinguished of the Dutch artists was Romain de Hooghe (1638-1720), a follower of Callot, who, without any of the weird See also:power of his See also:master, possessed a certain skill in grouping and See also:faculty of grotesque suggestiveness that made his point a most useful weapon to See also:William of See also:Orange during the See also:long struggle with Louis XIV . The 18th century, however, may be called emphatically the See also:age of caricature . The spirit is evident in letters as in art; in the fierce grotesques of See also:Swift, in the coarser charges of See also:Smollett, in the keen ironies of Henry See also:Fielding, in the Aristophanic tendency of See also:Foote's farces, no less than in the masterly moralities of Hogarth and the truculent satires of Gillray . The first event that called forth caricatures in any number was the See also:prosecution (1710) of Dr See also:Sacheverell; most of these, however, were importations from Holland, and only in the excitement attendant on the South Sea Bubble, some ten years later, can the English school be said to have begun . Starting into active being with the See also:ministry of See also:Walpole (1721), it flourished under that statesman for some twenty years,—the " See also:hieroglyphics," as its prints were named, graphically enough, often circulating on fans . It continued to increase in importance and audacity till the reign of See also:Pitt (1757-1761), when its activity was somewhat See also:abated . It See also:rose, however, to a greater height than ever during the See also:rule of See also:Bute (1761-1763), and since that time its See also:influence has extended without a check . The artists whose combinations amused the ' public during this earlier period are, with few exceptions, but little known and not greatly esteemed . Among them were two amateurs, Dorothy, wife of See also:Richard See also:Boyle, 3rd See also:earl of See also:Burlington, and General George See also:Townshend (after-wards 1st See also:Marquess Townshend); Goupy, Boitard and See also:Liotard were Frenchmen; Vandergucht and Vanderbank were Dutch-men . This period witnessed also the rise of William Hogarth (1697-1764) . As a political caricaturist Hogarth was not successful, See also:save in a few isolated examples, as in the portraits of Wilkes and See also:Churchill; but as a moralist and social satirist he has not yet been equalled .

The publication, in 1732, of his Modern Midnight Conversation may be said to See also:

mark an See also:epoch in the See also:history of caricature . Mention must also be made of See also:Paul See also:Sandby (1725-1809), who was not a professional caricaturist, though he joined in the pictorial See also:hue-and-cry against Hogarth and See also:Lord Bute, and who is best remembered as the founder of the English school of See also:water-See also:colour; and of See also:John Collet (1723-1788), said to have been a See also:pupil of Hogarth, a kindly and industrious humorist, rarely venturing into the See also:arena of politics . During the latter See also:half of the century, however, political caricature began to be somewhat more skilfully handled than of old by See also:James See also:Sayer, a satirist in the pay of the younger Pitt, while social grotesques were pleasantly treated by Henry William See also:Bunbury (1750-1811) and George Moutard See also:Woodward . These personalities, however, interesting as they are, are dwarfed into insignificance by the great figure of James Gillray (1757-1815), in whose hands political caricature became almost epic for grandeur of conception and far-reaching suggestiveness . It is to the See also:works of this See also:man of See also:genius, indeed, and (in a less degree) to those of his contemporary, Thomas See also:Rowlandson (1756-1827), an artist of great and varied See also:powers, that historians must turn for the popular reflection of all the political notabilia of the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th centuries . England may be said to have been the chosen See also:home of caricature during this period . In France, timid and futile under the See also:Monarchy, it had assumed an immense importance under the Revolution, and a See also:cloud of hideous pictorial libels was the result; but even the Revolution See also:left no such notes through its own artists, though See also:Fragonard (1732-18o6) himself was of the number, as came from the gravers of Gillray and Rowlandson . In Germany caricature did not exist . Only in See also:Spain was there to be found an artist capable of entering into competition with the masters of the satirical grotesque of whom England could boast . The works of See also:Francesco Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) are described by See also:Theophile See also:Gautier as " a mixture of those of See also:Rembrandt, See also:Watteau, and the comical dreams of See also:Rabelais," and Champfleury discovers analogies between him and Honore See also:Daumier, the greatest caricaturist of modern France . The satirical grotesque of the 18th century had been characterized by a sort of grandiose brutality, by a certain vigorous See also:obscenity, by a violence of expression and intention, that appear monstrous in these days of reserve and See also:restraint, but that doubtless sorted well enough with the strong party feelings and fierce political passions of the age . After the downfall of See also:Napoleon (1815), however, when strife was over and men were weary and satisfied, a See also:change in See also:matter and manner came over the caricature of the period .

In connection with this change, the name of George See also:

Cruikshank (1792-1878), an artist who stretches hands on the one See also:side towards Hogarth and Gillray, and on the other towards See also:Leech and See also:Tenniel, deserves See also:honourable mention . Those of Cruikshank's political caricatures which were designed for the squibs of William See also:Hone (1779-1842) are, comparatively speaking, uninteresting; his ambition was that of Hogarththe See also:production of " moral comedies." Much of his work, there-fore, may be said to form a See also:link in the See also:chain of development through which has passed that ironical genre to which reference has already been made . In 1829, however, began to appear the famous series of lithographs, signed H . B., the work of John See also:Doyle (1798-1868) . These jocularities are interesting otherwise than politically; thin and weakly as they are, they inaugurated the style of later political caricature . In France, meanwhile, with the farcical designs of Edme See also:Jean Pigal (b . 1794) and the realistic sketches of See also:Henri See also:Monnier (1805-1872), the admirable portrait-busts of Jean See also:Pierre Dantan the younger (1800-1869) and the See also:fine military and See also:low-See also:life drolleries of See also:Nicolas See also:Toussaint See also:Charlet (1792-1845) were appearing . Up to this date, though journalism and caricature had sometimes joined hands (as in the See also:case of the Craftsman and the See also:Anti-Jacobin, and particularly in See also:Les Revolutions de France et de See also:Brabant and Les Actes See also:des Apetres), the See also:alliance had been but brief; it was reserved for See also:Charles Philipon (1802-1862), who may be called the See also:father of comic journalism, to make it lasting . The See also:foundation of La Caricature, by Philipon in 1831, suppressed in 1835 after a brief but glorious career, was followed by Le Charivari (See also:December 1832), which is perhaps the most Ienowned of the innumerable enterprises of this extraordinary man . Among the artists he assembled See also:round him, the highest See also:place is held by Honore Daumier (1808-1879), a draughtsman of great skill, and a caricaturist of immense vigour and audacity . Another of Philipon's See also:band was Sulpice Paul See also:Chevalier (1801-1866), better known as See also:Gavarni, in whose hands modern social caricature, advanced by Cruikshank and Charlet, assumed its See also:present guise and became elegant . Mention must also be made of Grandville (J .

I . I . See also:

Gerard) (1803-1847), the illustrator of La See also:Fontaine, and a modern See also:patron of the medieval skeleton; of Charles See also:Joseph Travies de Villers, the father of the famous hunchback " Mayeux "; and of Amedee de Noe, or " Cham," the wittiest and most ephemeral of pictorial satirists . In 1840 the pleasantries of " H . B." having come to an end, there was founded, in See also:imitation of this enterprise of Philipon, the comic See also:journal which, under the title of Punch, or the London Charivari, has since become famous all over the world . Among its early illustrators were John Leech (1817-1864) and Richard Doyle (1824-1883), whose drawings were full of the richest grotesque humour . In 1862 Carlo Pellegrini, in Vanity See also:Fair, began a series of portraits of public men, which may be considered the most remarkable instances of See also:personal caricature in England . For the later developments of caricature, it is convenient to take them by countries in the following sections: Great See also:Britain.—During the later 19th century the term caricature, somewhat loosely used at all times, came gradually to See also:cover almost every form of humorous art, from the pictorial wit and See also:wisdom of Sir John Tenniel to the weird grotesques of Mr S . H . Sime, from the See also:gay pleasantries of See also:Randolph See also:Caldecott to the graceful but sedate fancies of Mr See also:Walter See also:Crane . It is made to embrace alike the social studies, satirical and sympathetic, of Du Maurier and See also:Keene, the political cartoons of Mr Harry See also:Furniss and Sir F . C .

See also:

Gould, the unextenuating likenesses of " See also:Ape," and " See also:Spy," and " Max," the subtle conceits of Mr See also:Linley See also:Sambourne, the whimsicalities of Mr E . T . See also:Reed, the exuberant burlesques of Mr J . F . See also:Sullivan, the See also:frank buffooneries of W . G . See also:Baxter, Of these diverse forms of graphic humour, some have no other See also:object than to amuse, and therefore do not See also:call for serious See also:notice . The work of Mr Max Beerbohm (" Max ") has the note of originality and extravagance too; while that of " Spy " (Mr See also:Leslie See also:Ward) in Vanity Fair, if it does not See also:rival the occasional brilliancy of his predecessor " Ape " (Carlo Pellegrini, 1839–1889), maintains a higher See also:average of merit . The pupil, too, is much more genial than the master, and he is content if his See also:pencil evokes the comment, " How ridiculously like!" Caricature of this See also:kind is merely an entertainment . Here we are concerned rather with those branches of caricature which, merrily or mordantly, reflect and comment upon the actual life we live . In treating of See also:recent caricature of this kind, we must give the first place to Punch . Mr Punch's outlook upon life has not changed much since the 'seventies of the last century .

His influence upon the See also:

tone of caricature made itself felt most appreciably in the days of John Leech and Richard Doyle . Their successors but follow in their steps . In their work, says a See also:clever See also:German critic, is to be found no vestige of the " sour bilious See also:temper of John See also:Bull " that pervaded the pictures of Hogarth and Rowlandson . Charles Keene (1823–1891) and Du Maurier (1834–1896), he declares, are not caricaturists or satirists, but amiable and tenderly See also:grave observers of life, friendly optimists . The characterization is truer of Keene, perhaps, than of Du Maurier . Charles Keene's sketches are almost always cheerful; almost without exception they make you smile or laugh