Image
William Holbrook Beard
Santa Claus, ca. 1862
Description
Maker
- William Holbrook Beard, 1824-1900, American
Title
Santa Claus
Year
ca. 1862
Medium
Oil on canvas
About
For nearly two centuries American artists have derived their descriptions of Santa Claus from Clement Clarke Moore’s 1823 poem “A Visit from Saint Nicholas.” In Moore’s verse, the sober Dutch bishop became “chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,” delivering toys by means of “a miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer.”
William Holbrook Beard depicted Santa Claus in an urban landscape, riding above rooftops in a sky clouded by coal smoke. He pilots a delicate swan boat drawn by reindeer whose harnesses are deco-rated with silver bells. The choking pollution of 19th-century American cities seems only to heighten the theatrical quality of this remarkable illustration, adding a veil of darkness to the mystery of Christmas Eve
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Projects & Publications
Publications
Exhibition History
Exhibition History
Use
The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Santa Claus with the accession number of 42.265. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.
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