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| Russian Icon Painter, Saint Nicholas the Wonder Worker Russian, c. 1300 St. Petersburg, State Hermitage Museum |
Happy Feast of Saint Nicholas, the real saint who became Santa Claus!
I have collected some images of this popular saint that offer a visual explanation of his fascinating history.
Nicholas started out as a devout Christian in a time when that could cost one's life. Later he became a charitable and strong-minded bishop who became the patron saint of mariners. He was given the title "The Wonder Worker" in the eastern Church and was extremely popular in the western Church as well.
But in the last 200 years he has somehow become a jolly old elf. Here is a short visual history of how this happened.
Nicholas as Bishop and Saint
Stories About Saint Nicholas
The Provision of Dowries
This story from the life of Saint Nicholas is judged by to be the most likely to be something that really happened by many scholars. It tells us that while still a young man, not a bishop, Nicholas became aware of the plight of a poor family with three daughters and no son. In order to marry each girl needed a dowry. The dowry was comprised of money, especially gold, and was considered necessary by the family of any potential bridegroom. The girls father could not provide even one sum and certainly not three. Without a husband the girls would have very little financial support when their father died and would, therefore, have to become servants or prostitutes, practically the only options available for a woman in this kind of situation. Taking pity on them Nicholas, whose family was rich, gave three bags or purses of coins to the family. In order to remain anonymous in his generosity he threw the bags through the window of their house at night. All four inhabitants are usually shown in bed. This makes the illustrations of his deed so interesting.
Saint Nicholas Rescuing Three Boys From the Pickling Barrel
This odd story is usually considered to be a fable, although fables are frequently based on actual fact. In this story there is a serious famine in the city of Myra. During the famine, an evil, but enterprising, butcher selected three of the less emaciated boys (or youths or young clerics) killed them and placed their bodies in barrels of his pickling brine, intending to pass them off as ham and ham substitutes. In prayer Saint Nicholas had a vision of their location. Going to the butcher shop he opened the barrels and prayed for the boys to come to life again, which they did.
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| Medallion with Bust of Saint Nicholas Byzantine, 9th Century London, British Museum
This is a medallion intended for enameling, but apparently unfinished. The image is created by the little strips of metal, in this case gold, that create a sort of line drawing of the image. Each little cell will be filled with the enamel paste, containing ground glass and pigment. When each segment is filled the whole will be heated until the paste has reached the point at which it becomes solidified to create the finished enamelwork.
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| Saint Nicholas, Stained Glass Window Austrian, c. 1340-1350 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Cloisters Collection |
Stories About Saint Nicholas
The Provision of Dowries
This story from the life of Saint Nicholas is judged by to be the most likely to be something that really happened by many scholars. It tells us that while still a young man, not a bishop, Nicholas became aware of the plight of a poor family with three daughters and no son. In order to marry each girl needed a dowry. The dowry was comprised of money, especially gold, and was considered necessary by the family of any potential bridegroom. The girls father could not provide even one sum and certainly not three. Without a husband the girls would have very little financial support when their father died and would, therefore, have to become servants or prostitutes, practically the only options available for a woman in this kind of situation. Taking pity on them Nicholas, whose family was rich, gave three bags or purses of coins to the family. In order to remain anonymous in his generosity he threw the bags through the window of their house at night. All four inhabitants are usually shown in bed. This makes the illustrations of his deed so interesting.
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| Saint Nicholas Providing the Dowries Italian, c. 1278-1279 Rome, Lateran Palace, Chapel of the Sancta Sanctorum |
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| St. Nicholas Providing Dowries for the Three Girls From Livre d'images de Madame Marie Flemish (Hainaut), c. 1285-1290 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Nouvelle acquisition francaise 16251, fol. 90v |
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| Ambrogio Lorenzetti, The Charity of Saint Nicholas Italian, c. 1330-1340 Paris, Musée du Louvre |
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| Bicci di Lorenzo, Saint Nicholas Providing Dowries Italian, c. 1433-1435 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| Master of Jean Rolin or Master of the Dunois Hours, Charity of Saint Nicholas From the Hours of Simon de Varie French (Paris), 1455 The Hague, Koninklijk Bibliotheek MS KB 74 G 37, fol. 84r |
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| Henri de Vermay II, Saint Nicholas Giving Dowries to the Three Girls French, c. 1630 Valenciennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts |
Saint Nicholas Rescuing Three Boys From the Pickling Barrel
This odd story is usually considered to be a fable, although fables are frequently based on actual fact. In this story there is a serious famine in the city of Myra. During the famine, an evil, but enterprising, butcher selected three of the less emaciated boys (or youths or young clerics) killed them and placed their bodies in barrels of his pickling brine, intending to pass them off as ham and ham substitutes. In prayer Saint Nicholas had a vision of their location. Going to the butcher shop he opened the barrels and prayed for the boys to come to life again, which they did.
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| Saint Nicholas Rescuing the Three Boys From the Stowe Breviary English (Norwich), c. 1322-1325 London, British Library MS Stowe 12, fol. 225 |
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| Gentile da Fabriano, Saint Nocolas Rescuing the Three Young Men Italian, 1425 Vatican City State, Pinacoteca Vaticana |
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| Bicci di Lorenzo, Saint Nicholas Rescuing Three Youths Italian, c. 1433-1435 New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art |
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| The Rambures Master, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys From a Book of Hours French (Amiens), c. 1455-1465 New York, Pierpont Morgan Library MS M 194, fol.152v |
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| Jean Bourdichon, Saint Nicholas and the Three Boys From Grandes heures d'Anne de Bretagne French (Tours), c. 1503-1508 Paris, Bibliotheque nationale de France MS Latin 9474, fol. 183v |
Transformation into Santa Claus
In the course of the nineteenth century, in both Europe and America, Saint Nicholas began to transform from the strictly religious bishop into something a bit different. He never quite lost his religious overtones in Europe, in spite of the hostility to saints in the Protestant countries; while in America he transformed into something entirely different, a jolly old elf, with virtually no overtones of his religious origins.
In Nineteenth-Century Europe
In the course of the nineteenth century, in both Europe and America, Saint Nicholas began to transform from the strictly religious bishop into something a bit different. He never quite lost his religious overtones in Europe, in spite of the hostility to saints in the Protestant countries; while in America he transformed into something entirely different, a jolly old elf, with virtually no overtones of his religious origins.
In Nineteenth-Century Europe
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| Saint Nicholas, Reworked from a 16th Century Portrait of Charles V Dutch, c. 1814-1830 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| Brepols and Dierckxzoon, Saint Nicholas Dutch, c. 1850-1900 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| Jan de Haan, Entry of Saint Nicholas Dutch, 1870 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
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| Sinterklaas in a Bookstore Dutch, 1873 Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum |
In the United States
While the European Sinterklaas retained his bishop's attire, the American version turned him into something else. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become merely an elf in a sleigh drawn by reindeer.
While the European Sinterklaas retained his bishop's attire, the American version turned him into something else. By the middle of the twentieth century he had become merely an elf in a sleigh drawn by reindeer.
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| Arthur J. Stansbury, The Children's Friend American, 1821 New York, William Gilley and Company |
This is, no doubt, due to the influence of the poem published in 1844 and written by the New Yorker Clement Clarke Moore called "A Visit From Saint Nicholas". The poem describes not a solemn bishop who rides a horse but a tiny elf who drives a miniature sleigh loaded with toys and powered by a team of "eight tiny reindeer". You can read the poem here: https://poets.org/poem/visit-st-nicholas However, it is clear from the 1821 illustration just above that an idea similar to this had been in circulation twenty years before the poem was published.
American illustrators and artists were quick to give visual form to the image conjured up by the popular poem.
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Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas"
Poem by Clement Clark Moore
Boston, L. Prang and Company, 1864, Page 11
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| Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas" Poem by Clement Clark Moore Boston, L. Prang and Company, 1864, Page 12 |
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| Thomas Nast, Illustration for "T'was the Night Before Christmas" by Clement Clark Moore American, 1869 New York, McLoughlin Brothers |
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| Thomas Nast, Merry Old Santa Claus Illustration from Harper's Weekly American, 1881 |
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| Christmas Postcard American, Early 20th Century New York, New York Public Library Digital Collection |
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| Christmas Postcard American, c. 1900-1919 New York, New York Public Library Digital Collection |
Santa was given his definitive American form by two illustrators who worked for The Saturday Evening Post in the first half of the twentieth century, J. C. Leyendecker and Norman Rockwell.
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| J.C. Leydendecker, Santa Behind a Window The Saturday Evening Post American, 1919 |
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| Norman Rockwell, Christmas The Saturday Evening Post American, 1927 Note that this Santa has a halo, linking him with his religious past. |
By the middle of the century, Santa was very much the figure we see today. A memorable and long-running series of ads for Coca Cola only cemented this persona in people's minds.
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| Haddon Sundblom, "They Knew What I Wanted" American, 1945 |
The only reminder of his real life and sanctity were: his red suit, an echo of the red vestments worn at Masses on the feast days of martyred saints; his pointy hat, an echo of the bishop's miter, but of softer material; his appearance at night and his generosity.
© M. Duffy, 2017
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