Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Caricatures of Thomas Nast, 1866, Accession # 10688, Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

The collection was purchased by the Library from Charles Apfelbaum, Valley Stream, New York, on April 16, 1986.

Scope and Content Information

This collection, ca. fifty-seven glass plate negatives, l866, consists of caricatures of prominent individuals and events painted by Thomas Nast; the negatives were done by Matthew Brady in his New York studios. Individuals depicted include: Nathaniel P. Banks, Henry Ward Beecher, Benjamin F. Butler, Peter Cooper, Jefferson Davis, Ulysses S. Grant, Horace Greeley, John T. Hoffman, Joseph Hooker, Andrew Johnson, George Gordon Meade, Raphael Semmes, Franz Sigel, Charles Sumner, and Clement L. Vallandigham, Fernando Wood, and Max Maretzek.

The caricatures were painted by Nast for a charity masquerade ball held on April 5, 1866, at the Academy of Music, New York City, by Max Maretzek (1821-1897), an operatic manager and composer. Many of the originals were afterwards sold at auction by the Sommerville Art Gallery. Also present in the collection are proof copies for some of the negatives and the original storage box.