Detail View: The AMICA Library: The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)
|
AMICA ID:
|
CMA_.1928.8
|
|
AMICA Library Year:
|
1998
|
|
Object Type:
|
Paintings
|
|
Creator Name:
|
Ryder, Albert Pinkham
|
|
Creator Nationality:
|
North American; American
|
|
Creator Role:
|
artist
|
|
Creator Dates/Places:
|
1847 - 1917
|
|
Gender:
|
M
|
|
Creator Name-CRT:
|
Albert Pinkham Ryder
|
|
Title:
|
The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)
|
|
Title Type:
|
Primary
|
|
View:
|
Full View
|
|
Creation Date:
|
c. 1896-1908
|
|
Creation Start Date:
|
1896
|
|
Creation End Date:
|
1908
|
|
Materials and Techniques:
|
oil on canvas
|
|
Dimensions:
|
Unframed: 70.5cm x 90cm
|
|
AMICA Contributor:
|
The Cleveland Museum of Art
|
|
Owner Location:
|
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
|
|
ID Number:
|
1928.8
|
|
Credit Line:
|
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
|
|
Inscriptions:
|
Signed lower right: "A. P. Ryder"
|
|
Rights:
|
|
|
Context:
|
The painting was inspired by a horse race that took place in New York in 1888. A waiter Ryder knew wagered $500 on the race, and then committed suicide when the horse lost. The shadowy forms in the painting, depicted with thick dabs of paint, embody many traditional symbols familiar from the Middle Ages. Death appears as a skeleton on horseback brandishing a sword---reference not only to the sweeping power of death but also to the unlucky horse race. A serpent, symbol of mmortality and decay, slithers in the foreground. As was his habit, Ryder worked on the painting for decades, making innumerable changes, and was reluctant to part with it.
|
|
Related Image Identifier Link:
|
CMA_.1928.8.tif
|