By: E&P Staff A painting by Thomas Nast -- the father of modern editorial cartooning -- is back in the Morristown, N.J., public library, according to an article in The Star-Ledger of Newark, N.J.
The 9x12-foot "Swinging Round the Circle" painting from 1867 features a caricature of President Andrew Johnson wearing a king's crown on a merry-go-round with Ulysses Grant and other notables of the day. It had been relocated to the Parsippany, N.J., offices of the Cendant corporation in 2004 while the library built a $7.6 million addition.
Star-Ledger reporter Bill Swayze noted in his story that the painting was among 33 wall-sized political pictures in Nast's "Grand Caricaturama" series. Only eight are known to have survived.
Nast (1840-1902) was a 31-year Morristown resident whose cartoons helped bring down New York City's corrupt "Boss" Tweed. He also created the Republican elephant and Democratic donkey symbols, and the modern-day image of Santa Claus.
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