Question

Read the following passage carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Today we don’t think of a cartoon as being associated with great art, but at one time it was. During the period of Italian Renaissance, the term ‘cartoon’ meant the first sketch in actual size of a large work of art, such as a mural (wall painting). When newspapers and magazines began to use drawings to illustrate news and editorial opinion and to provide amusement, these drawings came to be known as cartoons. In the days before the newspaper, artists like Hogarth, Daumier and Rawlandson made a series of drawings on a single theme. Sometimes such a series of drawings pictured and adventures of a single character. They were the ancestors of present-day cartoons and comic strips.

In the nineteen and early twentieth centuries, there were a number of magazines which specialised in cartoons. In Paris there was one called ‘Charivari’ and in London there was the famous ‘Punch’. Nowadays movies based on cartoons characters are also made. Movies featuring Tom and Jerry, Dennis the Menace, Tarzen, Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck are very popular with children.

1. Identify the purposes for which cartoons were used in newspapers. 

2. In what sense did the Italians use the term ‘cartoon’ during the Renaissance period? 

3. Who were the ancestors of present-day cartoons and comic strips?

4. Name the two magazines mentioned in the passage which specialised in cartoons. 

5. Name the famous cartoon character you are familiar with.

Answer 1

1. Cartoons were associated with great art. It is a large work of art. 

2. During the Renaissance period the term ‘cartoon’ was used to mean first sketch of a large work of art. 

3. Artists like Hogarth, Daumier and Rawlandson were the ancestors of the present-day cartoon and comic strips. 

4. Charivari and punch were the two magazines which specialised in cartoons. 

5. Mickey mouse and Donald Duck are the famous cartoon characters I am familiar with.