caricatura

Italian caricatura comes from caricare ('to load, to exaggerate'), from Late Latin carricare ('to load a cart'). The word appeared in Italian art criticism in the early 1600s. Annibale Carracci (1560-1609) and his cousin Agostino were among the first artists to create deliberate caricatures — exaggerated portraits that captured a person's likeness by amplifying their most distinctive feature. The big nose got bigger. The small chin got smaller.

The art form spread across Europe in the 18th century. James Gillray (1756-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1757-1827) created savage political caricatures in Georgian England, targeting George III, Napoleon, and the entire political establishment. Gillray's caricatures were so effective that Napoleon reportedly said Gillray did more damage than a regiment of soldiers.

English borrowed caricature from French (via Italian) in the 1740s. The word applied to both visual art and literary exaggeration — a 'caricature' of someone's behavior meant an exaggerated imitation. Charles Dickens's characters are literary caricatures: Scrooge, Gradgrind, Uriah Heep — each defined by one dominant trait amplified to grotesque proportions.

Political cartooning is caricature's modern home. The editorial cartoon — a single-panel drawing in a newspaper — depends on caricature to make public figures instantly recognizable. Lincoln's height. Nixon's nose. Trump's hair. The exaggeration is the identification. When the feature is removed, the person disappears.