Celebrity Caricatures By Jason Seiler

Some of the earliest caricatures are found in the works of Leonardo da Vinci, who actively sought people with deformities to use as models.
The point was to offer an impression of the original which was more striking than a portrait. Diodemmar Casem one of the great early practitioners, was favored by the members of the papal court for his ability to depict the essence of a person in 'three or four strokes.' In fact, the word "caricature" comes from the Italian caricare, "to load", thus the caricaturist's aim is to invest his image with as much meaning as possible.
Caricature, therefore, experienced its first successes in the closed aristocratic circles of France and Italy, where the such portraits could be passed about for mutual enjoyment.