caricatures

What is a caricature you may ask?

caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person, animal or object to create an easily identifiable visual likeness.

Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, who actively looked for people with… let’s say “interesting features” to use as models. The point was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait.

Caricature experienced its first successes in the closed aristocratic circles of France and Italy, where such portraits could be passed about for mutual enjoyment.