Donuts are reminscent of our neighbourhood bakeries, Just make sure you don’t touch the red, white and blue donut with sprinkles. You might just be on the receiving end of raining down hellfire
Art history 101: what is a cartoon?
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.
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…
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.
Raphael, Young man asleep on the ground, c.1504.
Young man asleep on the ground between two female figures: cartoon for the painting ‘An Allegory’ or ‘Vision of a Knight’ in National Gallery, London; pen and brown ink, pricked for transfer, black chalk residue on verso.
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.
1) Avocado
Healthy, creamy, delicious. Known as the butter fruit, the avocado’s bright green, smooth shiny texture is a joy to eat, and paint. If you’re a pun person, you can include avocado puns too!
2) Bao-zi (steamed buns)
Ahhh yes, living in Singapore, one would’ve experienced that midnight jioto Swee Choon in order to fix those bao cravings. Nothing beats biting into a freshly steamed Chinese bun, with its soft chewy bun texture and warm luxurious fillings.
3) Bubble Tea
The nationwide fad that led everyone queuing for that lovely sinful cup of boba overnight.
