CARTOON (It. cartone, from Lat. chart°, paper) a term having various significations. In painting, it denotes a sketch on thick paper, pasteboard or other material, used as a model for a large picture, especially in fresco, oil, tapestry and sometimes in glass and mosaic. In fresco painting, cartoons are particularly use ful, because in this a quick process is necessary, and a fault cannot easily be corrected. In ap plying cartoons, the artist commonly traces them through, covering the back of the design with black-lead or red chalk; then, laying the picture on the wall or other matter, he passes lightly over each stroke of the design with a point, which leaves an impression of the color on the plate or wall; or the outlines of the figures are pricked with a needle, and then, the cartoon being placed against the wall, a bag of coal-dust is drawn over the holes, in order to transfer the outlines to the wall. In fresco painting, the figures were formerly cut out and fixed firmly on the moist plaster. The painter then traced their contour with a pencil of wood or iron, so that the outlines of the figures ap peared on the fresh plaster, with a slight but distinct impression, when the cartoon was taken away. In the manufacture of a certain kind of tapestry the figures are still cut out, and laid behind or under the woof, by which the artist directs his operations. In this case the cartoons must be colored. In very modern times the term is commonly applied to pictures caricatur ing notable characters or events of the moment. See CARICATURE AND CARICATURISTS.
Among the most famous cartoons in exist ence are those executed by Raphael for the celebrated tapestries of. the Vatican, which were made at Arras, and hence called Arazzi. Two sets of these tapestries were ordered by Leo X, one for the Vatican and the other for pres entation to King Henry VIII. The second set, or fragments of it, are still in existence on the Continent. The cartoons lay for a time neglected at Arras, and have repeatedly fallen into neglect again, so that out of 25, the original number, only seven remain, and these have had to be restored. They were purchased at the
advice of Rubens by Charles I about 1630. On the sale of his effects they were purchased by the order of Cromwell for the nation, but again fell into neglect in the time of Charles II. William III had them restored, and built a gal lery for them at Hampton Court, where they remained, until in 1865 they were lent to the South Kensington Museum. The subjects of the seven are: (1) Paul Preaching at Athens; (2) The Death of Ananias; (3) Elymas the Sorcerer Struck with Blindness; (4) Christ's Charge to Peter; (5) The Sacrifice at Lystra; (6) Peter and John Healing the Cripple at the Beautiful Gate of the Temple; (7) The Miraculous Draught of Fishes. The cartoons have been repeatedly engraved, among others by Dorigny,
and Gribelin. They have also been extensively made known by photographs. Other celebrated surviving ex amples are Mantegna's nine cartoons of the
The cartoon of the School of Athens, car ried to Paris by the French, and a fragment of the battle of Maxentius and Constantine, are preserved in the Ambrosian Gallery at Milan. There are, likewise, cartoons by Giulio Romano in the Sala Borgia, by Domenichino and other Italian masters, who caused their pictures to be executed, in a great degree, by their scholars, after these cartoons. The value set upon car toons by the old Italian masters may be seen by Giovanni Armenini's della (1687). In later times large paintings, particu larly in fresco, were not executed so frequently. The artists also labored with less care, and formed their great works more from small sketches. In modern times some German artists have prepared accurate cartoons. Among them is Cornelius, whose cartoons for his fresco paintings in Munich have acquired much celebrity. He prepared, too, a cartoon for the fresco picture representing 'Joseph Interpret ing the Overbeck and Julius Schnorr may also be mentioned for their cartoons.