A Hard Road to Travel

In this print, three battered, injured men lead a gray horse pulling a damaged carriage (missing a wheel) on a dirt road towards the left. Walking ahead (at far left), a man, wearing a blue overcoat and a squished black top hat, holds his left shoulder with his right hand; in his left hand, he holds a carriage driver's crop. The second man (also dressed in a dark blue) walks beside the horse holding its bridle; he has a red (bloodied) handkerchif tied over his nose. The third man (wearing tattered clothes) walks besides the wagon as he holds the horse's reins. In the left background (beyond a white picket fence) is a white farmhouse with a horse-drawn buggy and driver out front; three figures stand in the portico of the house. In the right background dotted with trees, the dirt road recedes to a wooden gate, then beyond into the distance.

Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888), who had established his successful New York-based lithography firm in 1835, produced thousands of hand-colored prints in various sizes that together create a vivid panorama of nineteenth century American life. In 1857, Currier made James Merritt Ives (1824–1895) a business partner; the Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907. Many eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, rural and city views, images of boats and trains, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life, comic pictures, and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments.