Santa Claus
The artist was Thomas Nast. Nast's image was published in the 1862 Christmas issue of Harpers Weekly, issued on 3rd January 1863, during days filled both with trials for the North in the Civil War and with rising hope. In the picture Santa Claus has arrived by sleigh in a Union army camp to distribute gifts. Combining European traditions of St. Nicholas with folk images of elves from his native Germany, Nast created a jolly gift-giver in a star-spangled jacket and striped trousers, here offering cheer to soldiers far from home. He distributes boxes of necessities such as warm socks, copies of Harper's Weekly, and entertains the crowd with a jumping jack dangling from a noose, its chest lettered "Jeff" in reference to the Confederate President Jefferson Davis. The current fat, white-fur-trimmed red-clad figure developed from that image and concept.
