Weathervane: Horse and Rider

Date1875-1900

OriginAmerica, New York, Newburgh area (possibly)

MediumWood, iron, and paint

DimensionsOverall: 31 1/4 x 46 1/2 x 1in. (79.4 x 118.1 x 2.5cm)

Credit LineMuseum Purchase

Object number1959.800.1

DescriptionA complex weather vane in the form of a man riding a trotting (perhaps pacing) horse; a small building on the horizontal bar behind the horse bears a large flag. The latter elements are sheet iron. The horse-and-rider (alone) consist of a wood (estimated by eye as poplar) core sandwiched between two pieces of sheet iron cut to the same shape. In front of the horse, also on the horizontal bar, is a vertical pole of wrought iron. Overall traces of white suggest the vane was once solidly painted. Artist unidentified.
Label TextThis is one of three horese-and-rider vanes ascribed to the same maker. The other two lack this one's flag-topped building. Only one of the other two vanes has been examined firsthand, but all three appear to be similarly constructed, with sheet metal sandwiching wooden cores, a technique that guarded against warpage, improved rigidity, and added depth to the silhouettes.
The Museum's vane is said to have come from a barn in the Hudson River Valley. It has been suggested that it interprets a trotter racing under saddle, the building perhaps being a judge's stand and the vertical pole a distance marker. In any event, the building augments the vane's wind-turning surface area. Notable features include the rider's large, rowel spurs; the horse's bridle, which is represented by applied strips of sheet iron and includes a long-shanked snaffle bit; the "crescent-moon" arc of the horse's large tail; and the placement of one of the vane's several rivets to suggest the horse's eye.
ProvenanceCWF's source, Miner J. Cooper, wrote on 9/29/1959 that this vane "came from a barn in the Hudson Valley, within about fifteen miles of Newburgh, N. Y."

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