A drawing of Santa Claus by Thomas Nast [Public domain], via Wikimedia CommonsThe image of Santa Claus is pretty much omnipresent in the month of December, but how many people actually know where it comes from? Santa has his origins in numerous characters from the myths, legends, and stories of many different cultures; Saint Nicholas is his best-known but not only antecedent. As such, Santa Claus takes many diverse forms and personalities throughout the world, and I hope to have a chance to show you at least a few this month. However, the portly, red-suited old man with white hair and beard that is most familiar to the western world, comes from a clear source – the artwork of Thomas Nast. Nast (1840-1902) was a German-American illustrator and frequent contributor to Harpers Weekly. In addition to drawing the now-standard Santa image, he also created or popularized several national images including Uncle Sam and contributed to the downfall of the New York City’s corrupt Tammany Hall through his art.
Alexandra Kiely, aka A Scholarly Skater, is an art historian based in the northeastern United States. She loves wandering down the dark and dusty corners of art history and wholeheartedly believes in visual art's ability to enrich every person's life.
Her favorite periods of art history are 19th-century American painting and medieval European art and architecture. When she not looking at, reading about, writing about, or teaching art, she's probably ice dancing or reading.
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A Scholarly Skater 
I love that image! Thank you for this post.
Thank you so much for this post !!! ❤