- Thomas Nast (American, 1840-1902)
Head of Christ
Signed and dated “ThNast/1900” l.r., numbered “10.20...” in red on the stretcher, with a label from Abbey Art Galleries, Pittsburgh, affixed to the
stretcher and a partial label from “Dicksee & Co.” affixed to the frame.
Oil on canvas, 29 1/2 x 24 in. (75.0 x 61.0 cm), framed.
Condition: Small paint loss l.c., craquelure.
Provenance: Acquired from the artist in November, 1900, by W.P. Toler, New York City; returned to the artist for touch up; upon Nast’s death
in 1902 the painting was retained by his widow, Sarah; rights transferred by Toler to Harmon De Pau Nutting, New Jersey, in 1904; sold to J. P.
Morgan in 1908; donated to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1910, where it was given the object number 10.208; returned by The Metropolitan
Museum to the Morgan family in 1928, then donated to Cooper Union Museum that same year; sold at auction in 1946 to Meredith Galleries, New
York City, with a group of other items from the Cooper Union Museum; sold by Meredith Galleries, then whereabouts unknown; purchased in 1961 in
Detroit by the current owner.
N.B. The painting at hand, a deeply mystical rendering of the head of Christ, seems an unexpected subject for Thomas Nast, the renowned and
influential political cartoonist. However, Nast maintained an interest in history painting, and there exists at least one other related religious work by his
hand, a charcoal drawing entitled He Who Practices His Teaching (1895), in the collection of the Macculloch Hall Historical Museum in Morristown,
New Jersey.
Nast is best known for his drawings, featured regularly in Harper’s Weekly from 1862 to 1886. Nast’s images are iconic—the Democratic Donkey,
Republican Elephant, Uncle Sam, Columbia, Tammany Tiger, and Santa Claus, all were his creations.^1 The power of Nast’s drawings, based on his
fiercely held political beliefs, was never to be underestimated. Ulysses S. Grant attributed his election as President in 1868 “to the sword of Sheridan
and the pencil of Nast.” And the infamous “Boss” Tweed, object of some of Nast’s most pointed cartoons, told his followers, “Stop them damn
pictures. I don’t care what the papers write about me. My constituents can’t read. But, damn it, they can see the pictures.”^2
- http://www.maccullochhall.org/museum-collections/the-nast-collection (accessed 8/1/2011)
- http://cartoons.osu.edu/nast/bio.htm (accessed 8/5/11)
$25,000-35,000
online bidding at http://www.skinnerinc.com 27