The Road – Winter

In this snowy winter scene, a couple, bundled under a fur rug, enjoy a horse-drawn sleigh ride in the countryside. The man, wearing a fur hat and a light brown coat trimmed with dark brown fur, drives two horses (one a dappled gray, the other a brown horse); the pair pulls the sleigh from left to right. His lovely companion wears an ermine-trimmed coat with a large matching muff, along with a bonnet adored with white feathers. A cluster of bare leafless trees stand at left, while others dot the landscape, along with snow-laden pines at right. A house with a snow-covered roof and a smoking chimney is visible behind a snowbank in the central background.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful 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 continued until 1907. This print, created by the little known artist Otto Knirsch, is said to represent Nathaniel Currier with his second wife, Lura Ormsbee (they married in 1847); it may have been a holiday present for the couple created shortly after Ives joined the lithography firm.