JOY RIDE

COLLECTOR'S FOCUS ART OF THE HORSE

- JOHN O'HERN

Horses have always been a part of the life of New York Citywork horses, show horses, carriage horses and the over 50 horses in the New York City Police Department Mounted Unit.

Thomas Worth (1834-1917) was a prolific illustrator and avid sportsman who also loved horse racing. He often sketched races that he attended with James Merritt Ives of the prolific printmaking firm Currier & Ives. He was a native New Yorker, born in Greenwich Village. When he was about 18, he showed a drawing to Nathaniel Currier of the same firm, who bought it for five dollars and later published it.

One of Worth's Currier & Ives prints is Fashionable "Turn-Outs" in Central Park, 1869, a humorous look at wealthy New Yorkers showing off their finery, horses and carriages on an outing in the park. The sleek beauty of the horses and the details of the many styles of carriages are complemented by the variety of people, humorous caricatures from the bored to the pretentious.

The romance of the 19th-century Gilded Age is recreated in a way by the continuing tradition of taking carriage rides in Central Park. Carriage rides such as those shown in Worth's print, began as soon as the park opened in 1858. In 1863, rides were offered to tourists for 25 cents per passenger. Since few if any New Yorkers have stables and carriages, the rides are available for the special occasions of city folk and visitors to the city. They cost from about $60 for a 15-minute ride to about $160 for a VIP tour "with photo stop."