In and Out of Condition

Thomas Worth, among America’s prolific nineteenth-century illustrators, excelled at drawing horses and comic subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives. In the center of this print, a fat man -- wearing a blue jacket over his white outfit (shirt, vest, and pants) --extends his arms to show off his healthy, bucking white-gray horse (left) being restrained by a heavy-set farmhand (wearing a cap, red shirt with rolled up sleeves, blue pants with holes at the knees, and brown boots). A plump bull dog is nearby. They face a very thin man with a goatee, wearing a bowler hat and a long dark coat, who stands on his wagon hitched to his emaciated brown horse. At lower right, a thin dog stares at the bulldog. In the central/left background is a large stable (or barn) with "CONDITION POWDERS" lettered onto one of its walls; a rooster weathervane is on the roof. To the right of the stable, two horses frolic on a green field near a fence.










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.