Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house…
A cartoonist named Thomas Nast gave us the Santa we all know and love,
With a red coat, white trim and white gloves.
This is one of Nast’s most famous Christmas images. It is of Santa Claus in flight; in his sleigh and turning to say, “Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.” His sleigh is empty of toys as he has finished delivering them to all of the world’s good girls and boys. The sky is full of wonderful shades of pink and orange as the sun comes out to greet Christmas Day.
One thing I learned in researching the artist is that he lived in Morristown, New Jersey and many of the church steeples and cityscapes in his work are of that city. I also found out that his earlier drawings of Santa Claus had him in brown, without the white trim – much like this Santa Claus drawing does.
This Christmas image measures 400 pixels by 446 pixels and is ready to be downloaded and added to your Christmas projects, including Christmas cards, websites and scrapbook pages. It appeared in an 1869 edition of A Visit From Saint Nicholas.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
