Blood Will Tell

Currier & Ives produced many images of horses, horse racing, and trains. Indeed, by the time this print was made, trains were a primary form of transporting passengers and freight between cities and towns across America. The railroad's steam-powered speed sustained over great distances was well established since the earliest trains of the 1830s.

Yet this print parodies a horse and its rider racing a railroad train on a plain with mountains in the distance. Shown in a side view in the foreground, a man with windswept reddish hair rides on a brown horse galloping beside a railroad track ahead of a train rounding the bend in the left background. The horse shows signs of great exertion: its breath is puffing out of its nose (at right); its tongue is hanging out; its eyes are bulging; its horse shoes are flying off its left front hoof and his right rear hoof; and its bandaged front knees are slightly bloodied. The rider, who tightly grips the reins, also holds an upright whip in his right hand --the wind from the riding speed arcs the whip backwards. On the train, two men stand beside the locomotive's smokestack, from which a plume of smoke trails. In this picture the horse appears to be beating the "Iron Horse" -- possibly a humorous scenario to Currier & Ives customers, and a possible source of pride for owners of "hot blooded," spirited thoroughbreds.


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.