Christmas Card Creator. He created the world's first commercial Christmas card. Though cards with religious themes made of wood carvings can be traced back decades or centuries earlier, the first commercialized Christmas Card got started with his initial holiday spirit. The card simply stated, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you. His friend Sir Henry Cole suggested to him the idea and requested for John to design the card, who also was a known creative painter. John Horsley was born in London, England. He was an accomplished English Painter, the son of William Horsley, a notable Musician and the Grand Nephew of Sir Augustus Callcott. He studied painting in the Academy Schools and in 1836 exhibited a portrait of "The Pride of the Village," which is displayed in the Vernon Gallery at the Royal Academy. In 1843 his cartoon of "St. Augustine Preaching," won a prize in the Westminister Hall Competition, and in 1844 he was one of six selected painters commissioned to execute frescoes for the House of Parliament. And from 1882 to 1897 he became the Royal Academy Treasurer. His most lasting influence was the first designed Christmas Card which he created in 1843. It was a lithograph edition, only 1,000 was made for Sir Henry Cole. John Horsley's son, Sir Victor Horsley, became a famous Surgeon and Neuropathologist, who also supported experimental research. The original Christmas Card was printed out by Jobbins of Warwick Court, Holborn, London, hand-colored by a professional named Mason. It had been lithographed on stiff cardboard in dark serpia. Copies of the original were created in 1955 and can still be found today. But the Originals are considered very rare and worth a small fortune. He died in London, England at the age of 86.