Gift to the present owner from the artist, circa 1935

The Saturday Evening Post, December 21, 1935, illustrated in color on the cover
Arthur Guptill, Norman Rockwell: Illustrator, New York, 1946, illustrated p. 173
Christopher Finch, Norman Rockwell's America, New York, 1975, illustrated fig. 337
Thomas S. Buechner, Norman Rockwell: Artist and Illustrator, New York, 1970, illustrated fig. 299
Laurie Norton Moffatt, Norman Rockwell: A Definitive Catalogue, Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 1986, vol. 1, no. C351, p. 131, illustrated

Very good condition, unlined, small tack holes along edges, some stretcher bar marks, cracquelure in background; under UV: original pigment in the background fluoresces, otherwise fine.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

As chief illustrator of The Saturday Evening Post for forty-seven years, Norman Rockwell painted three hundred and eighteen covers. Only twenty-five of those covers, created from 1919-1943, were designed for the Post's December issues including Christmas: Santa Reading Mail, which was published on December 21, 1935.

Artists and writers in America have long portrayed a variety of images of Santa Claus.  Manyཧ of these were influenced by the 1823 publication of Clement Clarke Moore's poem "A Visit from St. Nicholas" now widely known as "The Night Before Christmas." By🍃 the end of the 1920s, the classic American Santa portrayed as a jolly old man in a red suit was omnipresent in the work of the most popular illustrators, including N. C. Wyeth and Norman Rockwell.

In Christmas: Santa Reading Mail Rockwell depicts Santa Claus hard at work seated at an old carved wooden desk with his feather quill in hand, reading a child's letter by candlelight, recording Christmas wishes in his ledger. An overstuffed brown leather United States mail bag sits at his feet, a humorous tribute to the stoic American Postal Service. A golden halo sitting atop Santa's head is a reference to the traditional 19^th century Germanic image of Sankt Niklaus (St Nicholas), and surely the "St. N🌄icholas" of his childhood portrayed in Moore's poem.

Rockwell's own Christmas spirit was never more in evidence than during the holiday season of 1935 when he and his family were living on Lord Kitchener Road in New Rochelle, New York. That year Rockwell learned that his neighbors' seven year old son had contracted a case of scarlet fever. "Despite the fact that our house was quarantined, Mr. Rockwell came across the street carrying the 1935 Christmas cover he had painted for The Saturday Evening Post, and he told my father that he wanted me to have it hoping that it would make me feel better and speed my re♈covery. The painting has been treasured by me ever since" (Letter from the owner, March 2007).