Knickerbocker
Datenot dated
Artist
Thomas Nast
(American cartoonist, illustrator, 1840–1902)
MediumWatercolor, ink, and graphite on illustration board
Dimensionssheet: 14 × 9 13/16 in. (35.6 × 24.9 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hollon W. Farr, 1975
Object number1975-157
On View
Not on viewClassificationsDRAWING
Label TextThe fictional Diedrich Knickerbocker was the "author" of Washington Irving's 1809 satirical book A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty (1809). Irving spread the word that Knickerbocker was a Dutch historian who had gone missing from his New York hotel and then announced that if Knickerbocker did not return he (Irving) would publish the manuscript he had left behind.The public fell for this ruse, and the book was a success. Thereafter, "Kickerbocker" became a sobriquet for Manhattanites, especially pompous one who identified with New York's old and wealthy families.
Thomas Starling Sullivant
not dated
Thomas Starling Sullivant
1910
