"Santa's Lap, Christmas Post Cover" Lot no. 4810
By Joseph Christian Leyendecker (1874-1951)
1923
27.5" x 20.5", Framed 36.5" x 29.5"
Oil on Canvas
Signed & Inscribed Lower Left
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Original Christmas cover for The Saturday Evening Post, published December 22, 1923.
J.C. Leyendecker's iconic painting, Santa's Lap, featured on The Saturday Evening Post's December 22, 1923 cover, is celebrated as one of the earliest depictions of the modern Santa. Prior to the 20th century, Santa's appearance varied widely. Leyendecker's consistent portrayals on magazine covers and advertisements—presenting a jolly, rotund man with a ruddy complexion in a red suit with white trim—solidified our collective vision of the modern Santa. This enduring image subsequently influenced renowned artists like Norman Rockwell and Haddon Sundblom.
Santa's Lap masterfully humanizes Santa, capturing an intimate and magical scene of a child's first encounter. Notably, Leyendecker inscribed the painting to the child model, Richard Wyndham Hoffmann, in 1937, writing "from his friend J.C. Leyendecker." This personal dedication occurred when Richard, at 16, modeled for a second Leyendecker Post cover, First Long Suit, also part of our gallery's collection.
Richard Wyndham Hoffmann, The Artist's Model:
J.C. Leyendecker first painted Richard Wyndham Hoffmann in 1923, when the artist captured the two-year-old boy’s sense of quiet wonder as he perched on Santa's lap for the December 22 cover of The Saturday Evening Post. But childhood innocence soon darkened for Richard. The following year, his world became consumed by the highly publicized and acrimonious divorce of his parents, the celebrity psychiatrist Dr. Richard Wyndham Hoffmann Sr. and the career-driven actress Janet Beecher. Beecher held unconventional spiritual beliefs that led her to convincing her husband to make a disastrous “spirit-guided” investment in her new play – a move that plunged the family into financial ruin.
Years later, after witnessing the boy’s parental struggles playing out in the press, Leyendecker contacted Richard, now 16, and gifted him the original 1923 Santa's Lap cover painting, which the artist personally inscribed. At this time, Leyendecker also asked Richard to model for the First Long Suit Post cover. The artist saw in Richard a resilience beyond his years, capturing a sense of pride and optimism associated with the boy’s transition into manhood. This newfound maturity soon translated into action. As World War II erupted, Richard, at age twenty, joined the Army Air Corps and became a decorated bombardier, completing 26 daring missions.
Richard married before going off to war, but it did not last. His second wife, “Cookie” Warren, was the daughter of the songwriter Harry Warren, who wrote the popular songs “Jeepers Creepers” and “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.” Richard died in 1959 at the young age of 37. (Reference for Hoffman biography: “The Art of the Post: The Little Boy on Santa’s Lap” by David Apatoff, The Saturday Evening Post online, December 13, 2023.)
Explore related art collections: $100,000 & Above / Christmas/ Holiday / Saturday Evening Post Covers / 1920s / Children
See all original artwork by Joseph Christian Leyendecker
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Germany, and came to America at the age of eight. Showing an early interest in painting, he got his first job at 16 in a Chicago engraving house on the strength of some larger pictures he had painted on kitchen oilcloth. In the evenings after work, he studied under Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, and saved for five years to be able to go to France and attend the Academie Julian in Paris.
Upon his return, as a thoroughly trained artist with immense technical facility, Leyendecker had no difficulty in obtaining top commissions for advertising illustrations and cover designs for the leading publications. His first Post cover was done in 1899, and he did well over 300 more during the next 40 years. Among the most famous of these was his annual New Years Baby series.
His advertising illustrations made his clients famous. The Arrow Collar Man was a byword for the debonair, handsome male, and women wrote thousands of love letters to him in care of Cluett Peabody & Company. His illustrations for Kuppenheimer Clothes were equally successful in promoting an image of suited elegance. He was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977.A major retrospective exhibition of Leyendecker's work was mounted at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1997-98.
Joseph Christian Leyendecker was born in Montabaur, Germany, and came to America at the age of eight. Showing an early interest in painting, he got his first job at 16 in a Chicago engraving house on the strength of some larger pictures he had painted on kitchen oilcloth. In the evenings after work, he studied under Vanderpoel at the Chicago Art Institute, and saved for five years to be able to go to France and attend the Academie Julian in Paris.
Upon his return, as a thoroughly trained artist with immense technical facility, Leyendecker had no difficulty in obtaining top commissions for advertising illustrations and cover designs for the leading publications. His first Post cover was done in 1899, and he did well over 300 more during the next 40 years. Among the most famous of these was his annual New Years Baby series.
His advertising illustrations made his clients famous. The Arrow Collar Man was a byword for the debonair, handsome male, and women wrote thousands of love letters to him in care of Cluett Peabody & Company. His illustrations for Kuppenheimer Clothes were equally successful in promoting an image of suited elegance. He was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977.A major retrospective exhibition of Leyendecker's work was mounted at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, in 1997-98.
Kent Steine