The New Student's Reference Work/Nast, Thomas

Nast, Thomas, an American caricaturist, was born in 1840 at Landau, Bavaria, and was brought to this country in 1846. At 14 he studied drawing for six months with an instructor, and a year later was employed as draughtsman on Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper. Five years later, as special artist of this periodical, he was sent to England, and went thence to Italy, sketching the history made by Garibaldi, for the illustrated papers of New York, Paris and London. In 1861 he returned to New York and began his war sketches and political cartoons for Harper's Weekly, which were immensely popular. In 1871-3 his caricatures of Tammany, by him first depicted as a tiger, and of Tweed contributed largely to the redemption of New York City from ring-rule. Later he delivered lectures and illustrated several books. He was appointed U. S. consul-general at Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1902, where he died on Dec. 7th.