Art history 101: what is a cartoon?
By Annette Wickham
Published on 1 September 2015
As the extraordinary 13 metre-wide Waterloo cartoon goes on display at the RA, our curator of works on paper offers a quick introduction to the technique used by the likes of Maclise and Raphael.
What is it, and why is it called a cartoon?
While the word cartoon usually refers to an animation or a funny drawing, in an art historical context it can also refer to a full-scale preparatory drawing for a fresco, oil painting or a tapestry. The word we use today comes from the Italian cartone, which simply means a large sheet of paper or card.
Who invented it?
In his Waterloo cartoon, Daniel Maclise RA was drawing on a medium with its origins in Renaissance fresco painting. While Maclise copied his cartoon by eye (as did Raphael in The Sacrifice at Lystra; pictured) there were other scaling techniques which had been around for thousands of years. "Squaring up", a method still used by artists today, was developed by the Egyptians at least 5,000 years ago. More on this below...
How does it work?
During the Renaissance, artists transferred their designs to the wall or canvas by making pin pricks along the outlines of a drawing and then rubbing powder or dust across the back of the sheet to create a mirror image of the composition. This procedure – known as "pricking" or "pouncing" – often damaged the paper and many cartoons do not survive as a result. However, there are some fine examples of this technique, such as Raphael's Young man asleep on the ground (1504; pictured). The pin pricks can be seen clearly along the outlines of the drawing.
What did Maclise do?
The 19th-century revival of fresco and mural painting, particularly in connection with the decoration of new Houses of Parliament (which had to be rebuilt after a devastating fire in 1834), also gave rise to a renewed interest in cartoons. At Westminster, the process of commissioning artists to paint the new interiors was preceded by a series of high-profile cartoon competitions. Daniel Maclise’s The Meeting of Wellington and Blucher adorns the walls of Westminster. While his preparatory drawing for the original, now on display in the Royal Academy, is not a cartoon in the strictest sense, it was almost certainly intended to be copied by eye, or possibly traced, a technique also favoured by Raphael for his cartoons (pictured), which are now at the Victoria & Albert Museum.
So, what's this "squaring" method?
"Squaring up", a simple technique which allows the easy and accurate transfer of an image from one surface to another, was most often used to transfer cartoons onto murals or to transfer preparatory drawings onto canvas paintings. Lord Leighton used this technique for his preparatory sketch for Flaming June (pictured). You can see the pencil-drawn grids which would be used to transfer the sketch onto a larger surface as accurately as possible.
Cartoon from the RA collection and beyond
Leda and the swan, 1530s
Given by William Lock, the younger, December 4th 1821
Portrait of Daniel Maclise RA, 1862
Etching by J.Smyth after a painting by E.M. Ward ARA. Published in The Art-Union, May 1847. Bound in extra-illustrated set of William Sandby’s History of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1862, vol.II
The Carrier Pigeon, 1835
Steel-engraving by W. Eagleton [i.e. W.H. Egleton?] from a drawing by Daniel Maclise, published by Longman & Co. in Heath’s Book of Beauty, 1835. Bound in extra-illustrated set of William Sandby’s History of the Royal Academy of Arts, 1862, vol II
A Parliamentary Hog, 12 May 1996 (publication date) for The Observer Review
Daniel Maclise: The Waterloo Cartoon is in the Weston Rooms of Burlington House until 3 January 2016.
Explore the cartoon with our interactive feature. Read a poem about the cartoon by Owen Shears, in which he considers its significance in the context of war art.
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