A Brush for the Lead: New York "Flyers" on the Snow

In this winter scene, six horse-drawn sleighs race around a bend on a country road, while another sleigh trails behind in the right background. Almost all of the galloping horses have their hoofs off the ground, so they appear to be "flying" as they speed along the snow-covered road. At the lower center, the sleigh driver turns around and gestures angrily at the driver following him in a sleigh tottering off balance as it turns (lower right of the image). While the driver of this tilting sleigh holds firm and progresses forward, his passenger is shown falling out of his seat. In the left background, five men (dressed in overcoats) watch the race from the front porch of a two-story clapboard house, while a few others watch from the windows. In the central background, beyond wooden fences and trees, another house is depicted.

Nathaniel Currier, whose successful New York-based lithography firm began 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 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. The artist of this print is Thomas Worth, a prolific nineteenth-century illustrator who excelled at drawing horses, horse racing and other subjects, many of which were made into lithographs published by Currier & Ives.