Thomas Nast Santa Claus

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Thomas Nast Santa Claus Illustration

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Thomas Nast Early "Santa Claus" Illustration

Thomas Nast is perhaps most famous for creating the popular image of Santa Claus.  Throughout his career, Nast created many illustrations of Santa, but here, for your consideration, is one of his earliest images of Santa.

The illustration is titled, "Christmas 1863" with banners reading "The Furlough" and "Christmas Morning". The image is a leaf from the original 1863 Christmas edition of Harper's Weekly.

Thomas Nast "Christmas 1863" Featuring Nast's Early Image of Santa Claus (Click on Image for Enlarged View)

This illustration is classic Nast. It has a number of captivating inset images.  On the left is an image of a little children, sound asleep in bed.  Then we see Santa coming from the fireplace, with a bag of gifts on his shoulder.  This image represents the original presentation of Santa as we know him today.

The center image shows a Civil War Soldier, on furlough, coming home for Christmas.  The family is ecstatic, and is celebrating his return with Hugs and Kisses.  To the right, the Children can be seen opening their presents.  Stockings can be seen hanging on the fireplace.

This is a heartwarming image, and one that brings back memories of Christmas's past. 

We hope you enjoy this complete Gallery of the Civil War works of Thomas Nast.  We have created this digital archive for the use of researchers and students of Thomas Nast.  Please remember that the digitally enhanced images are Copyright © Son of the South Material. For more information, contact paul@sonofthesouth.net .

A Note to our Readers

We created this Thomas Nast Gallery to digitally preserve Nast's Civil War work for posterity.  We are now making the original, 140 year old leafs available for a price of $250 each.  The proceeds from the sale of the material will enable us to continue to expand the material featured on our site.  Please contact paul@sonofthesouth.net if you are interested in acquiring one of these original leafs.