James Hammill and Walter Brown in Their Great Five Mile Rowing Match for $4,000 and the Championship of America, at Newburg Bay, Hudson River, N.Y., September 9th, 1867

The title of this print declares the names of the main competitors, James Hammill and Walter Brown, in their high-stakes rowing race on the Hudson River. In order to heighten the sensation of being an eye-witness picture of an exciting sporting event, the artist presented a mid-river view featuring two muscular men rowing in their sleek single-man boats. Hammill (the nearer of the two and wearing a sleeveless shirt) leads by a short margin; he looks at the viewer. Behind him, Brown, who is shirtless, looks over his left shoulder at the river. In the background, there are rowing teams, sailing vessels, and two-paddle wheelers packed with spectators. In the distance, the image presents a lovely mountainous panoramic landscape with the town of Newburgh nestled along the shoreline. The actual race ended in a disputed foul, but the referee called Hammill the winner.

Nathaniel Currier, 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 American life. In 1857, Currier made his James Merritt Ives (1824-1895) a business partner. People eagerly acquired Currier & Ives lithographs, such as those featuring spectacular American landscapes, or rural and city views, hunting and fishing scenes, domestic life and numerous other subjects, as an inexpensive way to decorate their homes or business establishments. The firm was eager to make this print shortly after it occured, thereby capitalizing on the popularity of this race between evenly matched rowers, which reportedly attracted almost 50,000 spectators.

The Currier & Ives firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories also including marines, natural history, genre, caricatures, portraits, history and foreign views. Until the 1880s, images were printed in monochrome, then hand-colored by women who worked for the company. In the late nineteenth century, Currier & Ives began to print lithographs in color.