Lapped on the Last Quarter

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. This amusing print shows two white drivers racing their four-wheeled wagons -- each drawn by a single horse (one white, one brown)-- in the pouring rain as they head (from left to right) towards the only available stall in the stable. Receding diagonally to the left background are five occupied stalls in the stable structure. At right, two Black (African American) grooms gesture towards the empty stall. At left, four white man watch and cheer them onward from a covered porch. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.

There is a companion print, "Mixed at the Finish" (Gale 4526, Peters 417; Metropolitan Museum of Art accession no. 52.632.296), which shows the outcome of the impromptu race to occupy the remaining empty stable stall.










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.