The Sacred Elephant Artist: Thomas Nast (American, 1840–1902)

1884

Prints and Drawings

By appointment, Duffy Study Room
Medium

Pen and black ink

Dimensions

sheet: 18 13/16 × 15 in. (47.8 × 38.1 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Edward K. Mills, Jr. LL.B. 1931

Accession Number

1962.60.1

Geography

Made in United States

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Drawings

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Provenance
Edward K. Mills, Jr.
Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Inscriptions

In ink: Th: Nast 1884 ( on the folio which the small figure, a characiatrure of Nast, carries under his arm at BR)... Inscription continues: "This animal is sure to win, if it is only kept pure and clean, and has not too heavy a load to carry." It is one of the earliest usages of the Republican elephant. Appeared in March 1, 1884 Harper's Weekly. Depicts a great white "Sacred Elephant", labeled the Republican Party, carrying the Presidential chair and wearing the belt of Civil Service Reform. A small characiature of Nast himself introduces the exhibit. (from Albert B. Paine, Thomas Nast, His Period and His Pictures, New York 1904, pp. 473-75.)

Technical metadata and APIs

IIIF

Open in Mirador

View IIIF manifest

The International Image Interoperability Framework, or IIIF, is an open standard for delivering high-quality, attributed digital objects online at scale. Visit iiif.io to learn more

Linked Art

API response for this object

Linked Art is a Community working together to create a shared Model based on Linked Open Data to describe Art.