Coming In "On His Ear"

Thomas Worth, among America’s prolific nineteenth-century illustrators, excelled at drawing scenes relating to horses and horse racing, in addition to making humorous pictures, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives. This print shows a weary, brown horse still hitched to its buggy, while the disheveled driver stands in order to descend. They have arrived at their destination all splattered with mud. At left, a groom pats the horse's muzzle. Behind him, a gentleman on the sidewalk haughtily looks at the mucky new arrivals. At right, a laughing woman peers out of a doorway. A covered coach (shown as a gray silhouette) is in the left background.









Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who established a successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of mid-to-late nineteenth century America. In 1857, James Merritt Ives (1824–1895), the accounting-savvy brother-in-law of Nathaniel's brother Charles, was made a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.