Joseph Christian Leyendecker (23 March 1874–25 July 1951) was a popular American illustrator. Of Dutch ancestry, born in Germany, he emigrated to the United States at the age of eight in 1882 from Montabaur, Germany, with his parents, Peter Leyendecker and Elizabeth née Oreseifen, his sister, Augusta, and two brothers, Francis Xavier "Frank" Leyendecker, and Adolph Leyendecker.
Leyendecker obtained a job at an engraving company, and attended the Chicago Art Institute under Vanderpoel, and five years later attended, with his brother Frank, the Académie Julian in Paris.
On his return to America he obtained major advertising and illustrating commissions, which made him possibly the most influential commercial artist in the United States at the time:
His Arrow Collar Man, who was modeled on his lover, Charles Beach, became the masculine equivalent of the Gibson Girl, an ideal of beauty to be emulated by the mass of American men. Leyendecker also did advertising illustration for Hart, Schaffner & Marx.
Over forty years, Leyendecker illlustrated covers for the enormously popular Saturday Evening Post. In total, he produced over 300 illustrations for the magazine. The mainstream image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red fur trimmed coat was popularized by Leyendecker, as was the image of the New Year Baby.
Leyendecker drew propaganda posters during World War I, encouraging people to buy war bonds.
Leyendecker was the chief influence on, and a friend of, Norman Rockwell, who was a pallbearer at Leyendecker's funeral.
In 1914 the Leyendecker brothers built an estate in New Rochelle, New York, where they, their sister, and Charles Beach, lived. Leyendecker was elected to the Society of Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1977. Other notable works by Joseph Christian Leyendecker include:
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