Cartoon

Cartoon (from Ital. cartone, pasteboard), a full-sized design for a fresco or other painting, drawn upon stiff paper, and transferred by tracing or pouncing to the surface to be painted. The most noted cartoons are those of Rafael, now in the British Museum, and of which a romantic story is told how they were sent to Arras as models for tapestry, and years after were found among the lumber of the factory. A cartoon of Leonardo da Vinci, of The Battle of the Standard, and one of Michael Angelo of Soldiers Surprised by the Enemy when Bathing, no longer exist. The name is also applied to the political engravings in Punch and other similar publications.