"Trotting Cracks" at Home – A Model Stable

Nathaniel Currier, and his partner James Ives, produced over 7,000 different lithographs, including almost 700 trotting horse scenes for an avid racing public who wanted inexpensive pictures of their trotting heroes. The artist Thomas B. Worth made some of the firm's most popular prints depicting horses.

In this print showing a harness room interior of a large stable (proclaimed "A Model Stable" in the title), a man (center) holds the reins of a horse [identified in the key as "The Auburn Horse"], which is backed into position before being hitched to a high-wheeled sulky. The man extends his right arm towards an approaching boy carrying the horse's racing tack. Behind them, a groom rubs down a white horse [named "Peerless"]. A left, a man sits near a sink polishing a horse bit; more equipment neatly hangs on the wall behind him and in a cabinet nearby. In the central background, a third horse [identified as "Dexter"], wearing a horse blanket, stands tethered. Through a large doorway behind Dexter, the rear section of the stable shows the rumps of three horses standing in stalls. In the right background, there are parked racing carts (sulkies) beneath sleighs stored on the shelf above. Harness racing was an American-born sport; this print serves to document the care top racing horses and harness-racing equipment received.


Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century American life and its history. People eagerly acquired such lithographs featuring picturesque scenery, rural and city views, ships, railroads, portraits, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. As the firm expanded, Nathaniel included his younger brother Charles in the business. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (the firm's accountant since 1852 and Charles's brother-in-law) was made a business partner; subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm, which became known as "the printmakers to the American people," continued until 1907.