Cartoon

Cartoon (Ital. cartone, 'pasteboard;') from Lat. charta, 'paper'. In the fine arts a cartoon is a design on strong paper of the full size of a work to be afterwards executed in fresco, oil colour, or tapestry; and prepared in order that the artist may adjust the drawing and composition of his subject where alterations can be readily effected. The design when completed is transferred, by tracing or pouncing, to the surface finally to be worked on. The most famous cartoons are those of Raphael (q.v.), now at South Kensington; 'The Battle of the Standard,' by Leonardo da Vinci; and 'Soldiers attacked while Bathing,' by Michael Angelo. The two last-named have perished, but their composition has been preserved in engravings. The full-page political sketches in Punch are called cartoons.