A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art — Thomas Wright
A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art, by Thomas Wright: a Project Gutenberg eBook. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : A History of Caricature and Grotesque in Literature and Art Author : Thomas Wright Illustrator : F. W. Fairholt Release date : January 2, 2014 [eBook #44566] Most recently updated: October 23, 2024 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/44566 Credits : Produced by KD Weeks, Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF Two illustrations, on pp. 199 and 204, were labelled No. 127. To resolve this, the second of them, and references to it, was changed to No. 127a. Footnotes have been gathered at the end of the text, and linked to their anchors for convenient reference. Incidental punctuation, especially of abbreviated words and in captions, which is missing from the printed original have been silently restored. Please consult the notes at the end of this text for details regarding the resolution of any other textual issues. A HISTORY OF CARICATURE AND GROTESQUE. ARISTOTLE AND PYTHAÏS. From an Engraving by Burgmair ( 15th cent. ) A HISTORY OF CARICATURE AND GROTESQUE In Literature and Art. By THOMAS WRIGHT, M.A., F.S.A. THE ILLUSTRATIONS DRAWN AND ENGRAVED BY F. W. FAIRHOLT, F.S.A. London: CHATTO AND WINDUS, PICCADILLY. 1875. LONDON: SAVILL, EDWARDS, AND CO., PRINTERS, CHANDOS STREET, COVENT GARDEN. PREFACE. I have felt some difficulty in selecting a title for the contents of the following pages, in which it was, in fact, my design to give, as far as may be done within such moderate limits, and in as popular a manner as such information can easily be imparted, a general view of the History of Comic Literature and Art. Yet the word comic seems to me hardly to express all the parts of the subject which I have sought to bring together in my book. Moreover, the field of this history is very large, and, though I have only taken as my theme one part of it, it was necessary to circumscribe even that, in some degree; and my plan, therefore, is to follow it chiefly through those branches which have contributed most towards the formation of modern comic and satiric literature and art in our own island. Thus, as the comic literature of the middle ages to a very great extent, and comic art in a considerable degree also, were founded upon, or rather arose out of, those of the Romans which had preceded them, it seemed desirable to give a comprehensive history of this branch of literature and art as it was cultivated among the peoples of antiquity. Literature and art in the middle ages presented a certain unity of general character, arising, probably, from the uniformity of the influence of the Roman element of society, modified only by its lower degree of intensity at a greater distance from the centre, and by secondary causes attendant upon it. To understand the literature of any one country in Western Europe, especially during what we may term the feudal period—and the remark applies to art equally—it is necessary to make ourselves acquainted with the whole history of literature in Western Europe during that time. The peculiarities in different countries naturally became more marked in the progress of society, and more strongly individualised; but it was not till towards the close of the feudal period that the literature of each of these different countries was becoming more entirely its own. At that period the plan I have formed restricts itself, according to the view stated above. Thus, the satirical literature of the Reformation and pictorial caricature had their cradle in Germany, and, in the earlier half of the sixteenth century, carried their influence largely into France and England; but from that time any influence of German literature on these two countries ceases. Modern satirical literature has its models in France during the sixteenth century, and the direct influence of this literature in France upon English literature continued during that and the succeeding century, but no further. Political caricature rose to importance in France in the sixteenth century, and was transplanted to Holland in the seventeenth century, and until the beginning of the eighteenth century England owed its caricature, indirectly or directly, to the French and the Dutch; but after that time a purely English school of caricature was formed, which was entirely independent of Continental caricaturists. There are two senses in which the word history may be taken in regard to literature and art. It has been usually employed to signify a chronological account of authors or artists and their works, though this comes more properly under the title of biography and bibliography. But there is another and a very different application of the word, and this is the meaning which I attach to it in the present volume. During the middle ages, and for some period after (in special branches), literature—I mean poetry, satire, and popular literature of all kinds—belonged to society, and not to the individual authors, who were but workmen who gained a living by satisfying society’s wants; and its changes in form or character depended all upon the varying progress, and therefore changing necessities, of society itself. This is the reason why, especially in the earlier periods, nearly the whole mass of the popular—I may, perhaps, be allowed to call it the social literature of the middle ages, is anonymous; and it was only at rare intervals that some individual rose and made himself a great name by the superiority of his talents. A certain number of writers of fabliaux put t