Who invented modern santa claus

Share on linkedin. Share on pinterest. Share on whatsapp. Share on email. Nicholas, a Peripatetic Saint. Thomas Nast, the American Daumier. Nicholas , illustration by McLoughlin Brothers, ca. Anne Prah-Perochon. Lafayette, the Great Mediator. Guy Sorman. Carla Peyrat. Yves Montand, an American Dream. Prune Perromat. Anthony Bulger. Vincent Dozol. In Anderson's portrayal he was still shown as a religious figure, but now he was also clearly depositing gifts in fireside stockings and is associated with rewarding the goodness of children.

While "St. Nicholas day" never quite took off in the way Pintard wanted, Anderson's image of "Sancte Claus" most certainly did. Nicholas character as opposed to the saintly bishop of yesteryear - one who flew in a reindeer pulled sleigh and delivered presents down chimneys.

Moore drew upon Irving's description and Pintard's New Amsterdam tradition and added some more Odin-like elements from German and Norse legends to create the all-winking, sleigh-riding Saint and also the names for his flying reindeer.

As time went by, more and more was added to the Santa Claus legend. The cartoonist Thomas Nast established the bounds for Santa Claus' current look with an initial illustration in an issue of Harper's Weekly, as part of a large illustration titled "A Christmas Furlough". In later Nast drawings a home at the North Pole was added, as was the workshop for building toys and a large book filled with the names of children who had been naughty or nice.

Although Nast had gotten the paraphernalia of reindeer, sleigh, etc down to a tee, the famous red suit was still yet to be set. Over the decades Santa would be depicted in a variety of colours such as blue, green and the yellow as pictured in this edition of Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas - Source. In this advert for Sugar Plums we see the red of the jacket, but the hat is green and he appears to have no trousers on at all. In this later illustration by Thomas Nast named "Merry Old Santa" the modern Santa character really begins to take shape.

Present is the jolly rotundity and the all important red of the suit. Colour version of Thomas Nast's famous image below - Source. Frank Baum, with its elaborations and much added detail went a long way to popularising the legend of Santa. However, in the cover to the first edition of Baum's book we see the red of his suit is still yet to be 'mandatory'. Frank Baum - Source. In this cover for Puck illustrated by the Australian Frank A.

Nankivell, we see perhaps for the first time a depcition of Santa which is indistinguishable from that of the present day. There was a period of overlap during which the modern Santa Claus character coexisted with other Christmas figures and other versions of himself, as his now-standard appearance and persona jelled and his character grew in popularity to become the dominant secular Christmas figure in the western world.

However, that period had ended before Coca-Cola began utilizing Santa for their holiday season advertisements. A standardized Santa Claus appears to New York children. Height, weight, stature are almost exactly standardized, as are the red garments, the hood and the white whiskers.

In , artist Fred Mizen painted a department-store Santa in a crowd drinking a bottle of Coke. The ad featured the world's largest soda fountain, which was located in the department store Famous Barr Co. Louis, Mo. Mizen's painting was used in print ads that Christmas season, appearing in The Saturday Evening Post in December So Coca-Cola commissioned Michigan-born illustrator Haddon Sundblom to develop advertising images using Santa Claus — showing Santa himself, not a man dressed as Santa. Nicholas " commonly called "'Twas the Night Before Christmas".

Moore's description of St. Nick led to an image of a warm, friendly, pleasantly plump and human Santa. And even though it's often said that Santa wears a red coat because red is the color of Coca-Cola , Santa appeared in a red coat before Sundblom painted him.

From to , Coca-Cola advertising showed Santa delivering toys and playing with them! The original oil paintings Sundblom created were adapted for Coca-Cola advertising in magazines and on store displays, billboards, posters, calendars and plush dolls. Many of those items today are popular collectibles. Jimmy is at it again. First in then again in , Jimmy leaves Santa a note and a Coke.