The Trotter's Burial: "The Dearest Spot on Earth to Me."

Some prints by Currier & Ives depict racist stereotypes that are offensive and disturbing. The Metropolitan Museum of Art preserves such works to shed light on their historical context and to enable the study and evaluation of racism.

This print caricatured a burial scene of a beloved racehorse. Three men are at a large gravesite, where a brown horse's head/neck is visible in a partially filled grave (center) beside a mound of dirt. Looming beside the grave, a man (the horse's jockey or harness wagon driver) prominently stands and cries; he is wearing a cap with a large visor, a blue-black vest over a white shirt, gray pants, and black boots. His right hand holds a large white handkerchief to wipe the abundant tears that fall down his face to the ground; in his left hand, he holds a crop. Presumably he is declaring this as the "Dearest Spot on Earth"--as indicated in the title. At the head of the grave (in the background) is a large white gravestone inscribed with the words: "THE/CELEBRATED/TROTTER/NONESUCH/THE KING OF THE/ROAD AND THE/PRIDE OF THE TURF./[in small type] COST HIS OWNER/$60,000." In the left middleground, a man shovels dirt over the horse's grave. He wears a hat, a light blue/gray shirt, and bluish pants. In the right middleground, a Black (African American) man (the groom or stable hand) stands holding his hat as he mourns the dead horse; he wears a dark vest over a red shirt, and dark pants. The title is imprinted in the bottom margin.


Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began in 1835, produced thousands of 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.