A Stocking Full (published in "Harper's Weekly," January 4, 1879)

Thomas Nast

originally published 1879 · Relief print and electrotype · Drawings and Prints

Santa Claus rests in a stocking suspended from a mantle while smoking an old-fashioned long-handled pipe. In 1862, during the dark days of the American Civil War, Nast combined European traditions of St. Nicholas with folk images of elves from his native Germany to create the enduring image of a jolly gift-giver that we now so firmly associate with Christmas. This proof of a wood engraving that Harper's Weekly issued January 4, 1879 shows how small Nast's Santa was. The published version of the image adorned on a page of holiday advertisements.

Artist

Thomas Nast

Date

originally published 1879

Medium

Relief print and electrotype

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Thomas Nast Jr., Mabel Nast Crawford and Cyril Nast, 1933