The Rise of Illustrated Periodicals and English Publications

 
Illustrated periodicals began to become more prevalent around the 1830s. A rise in printing technology partially explains this phenomenon, but more important are the improvements in paper making technology. In the previous century, paper had been a somewhat luxury item, but new steam-driven paper making machines were able to produce a cheaper paper, making it more economically feasible to create publications. In England some of earliest successful publications were Charles Knight's The Penny Magazine and Thomas McClean's The Monthly Sheet of Caricatures.

Punch is by far the most successful illustrated publication to come out in this time. Established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew, Punch father the phrase "cartoon" in reference to satirical prints. Punch appealed to middle class humor, often criticizing the royal family. The images were often bold, striking and savagely critical. In the late 1800s, Punch experienced its richest time while featuring the works of John Tenniel and Harry Furniss.

The next periodical to give Punch any competition is Vanity Fair, established in 1868.

The magazine used colored lithography to create "anti-portraits" that people would hang in their homes. Two prominent artists from Vanity Fair were Carlos Pellegrini and Leslie Ward who would sign their work with the psuedonames "Ape" and "Spy."

Image 1: Cover of Thomas McClean's The Monthly Sheet of Caricatures

Image 2: Cover of Henry Mayhew's Punch

Image 3: Cartoon by John Tenniel

Image 4: Cartoon by Harry Furniss

Image 5:  Darwin caricature from Vanity Fair 

Image 6:  Cartoon by "Ape" (Carlos Pellegrini)

Image 7: Cartoon by "Spy" (Leslie Ward)

James Gillray

James Gillray was another caricaturist to achieve great success during the end of the 1700s in England. During the anticipation for a release of Gillray's newest print, an observer commented “the enthusiasm is indescribable when the next drawings appears; it is a veritable madness. You have to make your way in through the crowd with your fists…" His cartoons were more political in nature. The image above features the Prince of Wales, the Queen and George III and is criticizing the way the King and Queen were "devouring" the money of the nation to supporting the Prince's affairs.

Image 1: James Gillray, "Monstrous Craws"
Image 2: James Gillray, "The Visit to Piccadilly (or A Prussian Reception)"

Peak of British Caricature

English caricature came to a peak in the late 1700s. At this time thousands of prints were being made and sold in store established solely to sell prints. Caricaturists were like celebrities. Picture above is a print by Thomas Rowlandson. Like Hogarth, his satire mostly pertained to society and social manners. The image is titles "Boney and his New Wife," it is Napoleon Bonarte and his wife Mary Louis, who did not have the best of marriages. Often Rowlandson's drawings were incredibly vulgar (this is honestly, one of the few I found that didn't involve graphic nudity.)

Amateur Caricature and George Townshend

Amateur caricature was popular in England in the mid-1700s. George Townshend is the most famous of this group. He is credited for truly apply caricature t politics. Townshend set the mode of creating drawings, and then giving them to print sellers to etch and produce.

(Both images: George Townshend)

William Hogarth

In England, William Hogarth was the "most important making of satirical prints in the first half the the 18th Century." Like most of the satire of his time, his prints were often social commentary. The image above is an engraving of John Wilkes, a radical, journalist, and politician that Hogarth obviously didn't care for. Very rarely did he apply his satire to politics. The bottom image is an example of Hogarth's more political cartoons. It pertains to the South Sea Bubble scandal (which to sum it up quickly involved over-speculation on trade to cause people to loose a lot of money.)

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)