Santa Claus
This is a detail from the first published illustration of Santa Claus in his modern form. The illustration, by Thomas Nast, appeared in Harper's Weekly in January 1863. Although Santa appears to be wearing a festive outfit festooned with Christmas stars, he is in fact wearing the Union flag (later the US flag), the stars and stripes (Notice the striped trousers) - consequently his jacket is blue, not red. The illustration was made during the American civil war, with Santa distributing presents to the Unionist troops.
Size: 4208px × 4000px
Photo credit: © Chris Madden / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: civil, color, colors, colour, colours, early, historical, nast, original, origins, red, santa, victorian, war
