TROTTING CRACKS AT THE FORGE 1952 Nathaniel Currier - James Merritt Ives PRINT

Original 1952 Reprint 13 1/2 inch x 8 1/2 inch Colour Print of the 1869 Lithograph titled ”TROTTING CRACKS” AT THE FORGE

This print shows an interior of a farrier's workshop, where horses await being fitted with new horseshoes. At left, a bearded blacksmith wearing a red shirt and leather apron stands beside a flaming fireplace (flanked between two large bellows); nearby is the anvil, where the blacksmith shapes hot iron into custom-sized horseshoes. At right, two horses stand in profile -- one grey behind a bay. A farrier hammers a horseshoe into the rear hoof of Lady Thorn, while being watched by an elderly bearded man seated on a tree stump, a standing boy holding a fly wisk, and a man seated on a barrel. In the background, a groom approaches with another darker bay horse. In the right background, a man stands leaning against the side of an open entry; beyond, a black groom rides away on horseback, while another rider approaches the farrier's shop.

Originally produced in 1869 by Currier and Ives. The New York firm of Currier & Ives grew from a printing business established by Nathaniel Currier (1813–1888) in 1835. Expansion led, in 1857, to a partnership with brother-in-law James Merritt Ives (1824–1895). The firm operated until 1907, lithographing over 4,000 subjects for distribution across America and Europe with popular categories including landscape, 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 at home.

Inscription under the image: “Entered according to Act of Congress in the Year 1869, by Currier & Ives, in the Clerks Office of the District Court of the United States for the Southern District of New York // Reprinted from LITH. OF CURRIER & IVES // MOUNTAIN BOY GREY EAGLE LADY THORN”

Published by Bonanza Books, New York

Plate size 15 3/8 inch x 11 5/8 inch

Reverse side blank

The print is in very good condition.