A Hard Road to Travel

In this print, two battered, injured men lead a dark brown horse pulling a damaged buggy (missing a wheel) on a dirt road towards the left. Walking ahead (at far left), a man --wearing a blue overcoat (with holes at the elbows), mud-splashed brown pants, and a squished black top hat-- holds his left shoulder with his right hand; in his left hand, he holds one of the horse's reins and a carriage driver's crop. The second man (dressed in a red cap, a tattered blue jacket, and red-patched green pants) has a pink (bloodied) handkerchif tied over his nose; he walks besides the buggy holding the red strip of harness that previously connected the horse to the buggy. There is no background, apart from a grassy field.

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.