A Game Dog

Thomas Worth, among America’s prolific nineteenth-century illustrators, excelled at drawing scenes relating to horses, hunting, and other subjects, many of which were made into popular lithographs published by Currier & Ives.

At the center of this comic hunting scene, a sign posted on a tree warns: "BEWARE OF THE DOG / NO PICNICS / ALLOWED ON / THESE PREMISES." At upper left, a hunter, who ignored the sign, is shown lying along a tree branch after being chased up the tree by a large brown dog wearing a spiked collar (at right). The dog --its mouth full of feathers and bird parts--stares up at the hunter, whose empty game bag and rifle lay on the ground amid bird feathers at the base of the tree. At left, the hunter's dog runs away with its tail between its legs. In the right background, there is a white farmhouse atop a low hill overlooking its bucolic, tree-dotted setting. . .






















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. Subsequently renamed Currier & Ives, the firm continued via their successors until 1907. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life, comic situations and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.