I.

Introduction

Cartoon, in the fine arts, a drawing made on paper in preparation for and in the same size as a painting, tapestry, mosaic, or piece of stained glass. Since the 1840s the term has come to also mean any humorous, satirical, or opinionated drawing, typically one printed in a newspaper or magazine, with or without a short text. Rather than the drawing, the text—cast within the cartoon as speech or set as a caption—may be the bearer of the joke or the witticism.