The Arts of Industry as Applied to War (cartoon for a wall painting in the Victoria and Albert Museum)

Frederic Leighton's Arts of Industry as Applied to War (1872) is a cartoon — a full-scale preparatory oil sketch — for the great mosaics he designed for the South Court of the Victoria and Albert Museum. This monumental public commission was one of the most prestigious of mid-Victorian England, asking Leighton to create decorative works that would embody the V&A's mission of connecting art with industry and manufacture. The 'War' panel complemented its companion piece on peace, together presenting industry as the civilizing force driving both military strength and peaceful prosperity.

The cartoon retains the broad compositional sweep essential for monumental decoration — clear figural groupings, strong silhouettes, and a hierarchical arrangement that reads at the large scale of the finished mosaic. Leighton's classical training gives the figures noble proportions, and his color, even in sketch form, anticipates the warm mosaic palette.