Valentine's Day Thomas Nast Image on Display at Macculloch Hall Historical Museum

In celebration of Valentine’s Day, during the month of February Macculloch Hall Historical Museum will display a rarely seen image created by political cartoonist Thomas Nast.  The engraving titled “St. Valentines-Day” can be seen hanging on the second floor of the museum.

The image was published on the cover of Hearth and Home: For the Farm, Garden, And Fireside weekly periodical on February 13, 1869.  The weekly was brand new when Nast’s illustration was published; the first issue was printed only seven weeks earlier on December 26, 1868.  The short-lived New York periodical ceased publication with volume eight in 1875.  During his career, Nast drew images for over 65 different periodicals. 

“St. Valentines-Day” shows a little girl sitting reading her Valentine’s Day cards.  Nast loved to use himself and his family as models in many of his drawings, especially in his holiday images.  The little girl depicted in this drawing is his oldest daughter, Julia Nast, whose name is written on the envelope a little boy is handing to her.  Julia was six years old when Nast made this illustration.

Visitors can also see more of Nast’s work in the second floor Thomas Nast Gallery. More than fifteen examples of original images from the second half of the nineteenth century are on display in the exhibit, The Original Thomas Nast.  A generous loan of original artwork by a Nast descendant has allowed the Museum to showcase a variety of Nast’s works—from an original oil painting to a copper engraving plate. These rarely viewed paintings and drawings represent a significant departure from Nast’s more familiar work, and display an aspect of the artist’s talent that has largely gone unrecognized.