More on the Book English Characature (1620 to the present)

Just in the middle of summarising the intro to this interesting book Im reading about characature. Im Predominantly interested in William Hogarth and James Gillray.

(Page 10) The introduction (which summarises the history of caricature in much detail), clarifies that caricature was at its most vital in the closing years of the 18th century and was an art form considered to be "as British as Roast beef and beer" and it added a third dimension to the national school of portraiture and fine art.

Mockery of the individual was but one function of caricature, but also the progress of human culture, folly, greed and lechery, often embodied in the corruption of such professionals as the church, the Army, Law, high poloitics and Medicine.

One thing I didnt know was that this mode of drawing (graphic distortions of the salient points of a persons appearance or habitual costume) was FIRST practised by Annibale and Agostino Carracci in Italy at the end of the 16th Century, which was 150 years before caricature was adopted by satirists in England (WOW, we were late).

(Page 11) It is further argued by satirist Annibale that "a caricaturists task is exactly the same as a classical artists. As both see the lasting truth beneath the surface of mere outward appearance. Both try help nature accomplish its plan. The one may strive to visualize the perfect form and to realise it in his work, the other to grasp the pefrect deformity, and thus reveal the very essence of a personality. A Good caricature, like every work of art, is more true to life than reality itself."