Fashion, The Property of William Gibbons New Jersey

Periodca. 1842 - 1845

MediumBlack ink on paper

Dimensions6 × 7.5 in. (15.2 × 19.1 cm)

InscribedInscribed lower center, "Printed by E. Jones & G. W. Newman N. Y." Inscribed lower right, "Pubd by E. Sintzenich, Morristown N. J." Inscribed lower center, " FASHION / The Property of William Gibbons New Jersey / Foaled 26 April 1837."

SignedSigned lower left, "Drawn from nature & Lith. by E. Sentzenich."

ClassificationsPrints

Credit LineMuseum Collection

Object number1989.588

DescriptionBlack and white llithograph of a medium dark horse facing right, with white markings on its nose. It stands in a natural landscape with trees in the background, and some low vegetation in the right foreground.
Curatorial RemarksEugene Sintzenich (1792 - 1852), born in Germany, was a landscape artist, portrait painter, and art teacher who first came to America in 1831. By 1833, he was resident in London, England, but returned soon to America where he lived in Rochester, NY (1839 - 1844), Albany and New York City (1844 - 1848), and then back in Rochester (1851 - 1852). As this lithograph indicates, this peripatetic artist also spent time in Morristown, Morris County. He was known for painting large panorama views of Niagara Falls, New York State views, and New York City after the great fire of December 1845. Sintzenich died in Rochester, leaving a widow and son. According to the legends on the lithograph, the artist drew the horse from nature and then on the lithograph stone, which he had printed in New York City by E. Jones & G. W. Newman, a firm that was active in the 1840s.NotesFashion (1837–1860), was a chestnut thoroughbred four-mile race mare that defeated Boston and set a record of 7:32½, for that distance in 1842. Sired by Trustee out of Bonnets o' Blue, she was owned and bred by William Gibbons (1794 - 1852) on a farm he purchased in 1832 in Madison, New Jersey, that is now the campus of Drew University. Fashion was considered the best race mare of her generation, or any generation that came before her. The mare continued to race until she was eleven years old, running a total of 68 heats and winning 55, with earnings of $41,500. In that day, races were held in grueling heats with each heat usually covering four miles. These races were not necessarily contested on tracks. They could be set anywhere the race organizers decided to set them. William Gibbons was a modest man who only raced horses he'd bred himself, and he never bet. He disliked ostentation, but the public demand for Fashion's match races was huge and he gave in to their pressure more than once. It is said that 70,000 people showed up for the 10 May 1842 match between Boston and Fashion at the Union Course on Long Island. Carrier pigeons carried the news of each heat to New York City newspapers. A second epic match between Fashion and Paytona took place on 15 May 1845, again at the Union Course. An estimated 100,000 people attended that race, which Fashion lost. Samuel Laird (1787 - 1857) of Colts Neck, Monmouth County, trained Fashion throughout her career. Laird's son, Joseph T. Laird (1824 - 1894), always rode as jockey. Samuel Laird owned the Colts Neck Inn but became more famous as a distiller of applejack, which his descendants continue to produce to this day.

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