Introduction to English Satire

Caricature began to evolve with the invention of the printing press in the 15th century. Satire lent itself to prints well because with print there is the capability to create relatively inexpensive art that could be passed around, studied closely, and hidden when necessary. These early prints relied more on allegory then actual caricature, and very early subjects were often about religion. The 18th Century is when caricature's popularity really began to grown in England. There "caricature" was used as a broad term that covered any satirical print. In England, the graphic skills of Italian caricature artists were combined with social content from realist Dutch paintings to form a media that resembles modern day cartoons.

(Image above: William Hogarth)