Three-quarter Length Portrait of Thomas Nast Holding Palette and Brush
ca. 1888
Medium
Photograph
Dimensions
Sheet: 5 7/16 × 3 5/8 in. (13.8 × 9.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Thomas Nast Jr., Mabel Nast Crawford and Cyril Nast, 1933
Accession Number
33.35.289
Tags
Art Historical Context
This intimate photograph, titled *Three-Quarter Length Portrait of Thomas Holding Palette and Brush* (ca. 1888), offers a rare glimpse into the life of Thomas Nast, the celebrated American illustrator and political cartoonist. Captured in a modest sheet size of 5 7/16 × 3 5/8 inches (13.8 × 9.2 cm), it shows Nast posed confidently with his artist's palette and brush—emblems of his craft—highlighting his identity as a master draftsman whose incisive caricatures shaped public opinion in the late 19th century. Housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints department and generous...
About the Artist
Thomas Nast · 1840–1902
Thomas Nast (1840–1902) was the most powerful political cartoonist in American history, an artist whose images shaped public opinion, toppled corrupt politicians, and gave enduring visual form to some of the most cherished symbols of American popular culture. Born in Landau, Germany, he emigrated with his family to New York as a child and received his artistic training at the National Academy of D...