Biography of Thomas Nast

Thomas Nast was born on September 26, 1840 in Landau, Germany in the army barracks. His father, also Thomas Nast, was a trombonist in a regimental band. He however did not like his family living in Germany among the uncomfortable political climate and military. He then sent his wife and two children to New York City in 1846 and followed them three years later. Thomas Nast Junior had then studied art all his life and had many careers in art. He studied art with Theodore Kaufmann in 1854 and worked at the Jefferson Bryant Gallery. He then, at age fifteen, was hired as a reportorial artist for Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Then he went on to work for the New York Illustrated News and covered a report on Giuseppe Garibaldi. Upon returning to the United States, he married Sarah Edwards and the two of them had five children together. By 1862, Thomas Nast had gotten a position at Harper’s Weekly.
Thomas Nast was a skilled artist. The reason he is related to “Holidays and Celebrations on the Nineteenth Century” is because he is one of the first people to give a definite picture of Santa Claus. He first drew Santa Claus in the Christmas season of 1862. He drew Santa in the way that we see him now; big, jolly, white beard, etc. The first picture drawn was Santa Claus in a sleigh with bags of gifts surrounded by men and children. The image was called, “Santa Claus in Camp” because he was right in the middle of a military scene during the Civil War. This picture was drawn to memorialize the family sacrifices of the Union during the darkest days of the Civil War.

Source:

"Thomas Nast." News Update The Ohio State University Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. Web. 07 Jan. 2010. .