Painting the Town -- Museum of the City of New York

In the mid-nineteenth century, Hiram Woodruff (1817 -1867) was considered New York City's preeminent dealer, trainer, and rider of fine horses. Woodruff had been born into a family of horsemen that included his father, John, and uncle, George, who ranked among the outstanding horse trainers of their day. John Woodruff also managed the Harlem Course, Manhattan's first official trotting track at Harlem Lane (now St. Nicholas Avenue), and a tavern named the Red House, both highly popular with owners of fine horses. By age fourteen Hiram was winning saddle races.

In 1866 Jerome Avenue opened to allow access through the Bronx to the Jerome Race Track, in Westchester County.¹ The track also served as home base for the American Jockey Club. Stables and inns catering to horse and racing devotees dotted the avenue, making this thoroughfare an ideal venue for Woodruff's business. Such wealthy customers and equine connoisseurs as Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, Jay Gould, theatrical producer Lester Wallack, and political leader Ogden Livingston Mills patronized Woodruff Stables, paying as much as thirty thousand dollars for a choice horse.

The scene accurately depicts the clutter and movement of the stable yard, with skillfully rendered dogs, horses, and men in various standing and moving postures.² The still-rural nature of the Bronx is evinced by the trees, arbor, and picket fence visible in the background. Oertel's painting of Woodruff's enterprise became the basis for an advertisement for Brewster and Company, carriage makers, in which the three Brewster partners -Henry Brewster, James W. Lawrence, and Jonathan W. Briton -are identified in the lower margin.

Johannes Oertel, born in Fürth, Germany, served an apprenticeship with an engraver in nearby Nuremberg. Following the 1848 German revolution he emigrated to the United States, settled in Newark, New Jersey, and became a drawing teacher.³ His subsequent career combined painting, engraving for banknote companies, and twenty years of service as rector of various Protestant-Episcopal congregations in Florida, North Carolina, and other southern states. Oertel's works included religious subjects, landscapes, and animals. In 1857 he was among the artists who decorated the Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Notes:

1 Westchester County borders the Bronx. When the Bronx became part of Greater New York in 1898, the southern portion of the region, including the Jerome Race Track area, was annexed to the Bronx.

2 The number of paintings in the collection that depict stables and horse driving reflects the popularity of the theme as a subject for artists during the second half of the nineteenth century. Examples include John McAuliffe's Frank Work Driving a Fast Team of Trotters (acc. no. 29.100.1312); Jay Hambridge's Summer on the Speedway (acc. no. 34.100.33); and Louis Maurer's The New York Riding Club at Judge Smith's, Jerome Avenue and 167th Street, 1886 (acc. no. 58.146.1).

3 M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Water Colors and Drawings, 1800 -1875 (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1962), vol. 2, p. 79. Richard Koke, in A Catalog of the Collection, Including Historical, Narrative, and Marine Art (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982), relates that in 1881 Oertel taught Christian art at the University of the South and that during 1889-1891 he was on the art faculty at Washington University, St. Louis.


Woodruff Stables 1861 Johannes A. Oertel (1823 -1909) Oil on canvas, 24 1/4 X 40 Gift of Harris Fahnestock, 34.34
In the mid-nineteenth century, Hiram Woodruff (1817 -1867) was considered New York City's preeminent dealer, trainer, and rider of fine horses. Woodruff had been born into a family of horsemen that included his father, John, and uncle, George, who ranked among the outstanding horse trainers of their day. John Woodruff also managed the Harlem Course, Manhattan's first official trotting track at Harlem Lane (now St. Nicholas Avenue), and a tavern named the Red House, both highly popular with owners of fine horses. By age fourteen Hiram was winning saddle races. In 1866 Jerome Avenue opened to allow access through the Bronx to the Jerome Race Track, in Westchester County.¹ The track also served as home base for the American Jockey Club. Stables and inns catering to horse and racing devotees dotted the avenue, making this thoroughfare an ideal venue for Woodruff's business. Such wealthy customers and equine connoisseurs as Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, August Belmont, Jay Gould, theatrical producer Lester Wallack, and political leader Ogden Livingston Mills patronized Woodruff Stables, paying as much as thirty thousand dollars for a choice horse. The scene accurately depicts the clutter and movement of the stable yard, with skillfully rendered dogs, horses, and men in various standing and moving postures.² The still-rural nature of the Bronx is evinced by the trees, arbor, and picket fence visible in the background. Oertel's painting of Woodruff's enterprise became the basis for an advertisement for Brewster and Company, carriage makers, in which the three Brewster partners -Henry Brewster, James W. Lawrence, and Jonathan W. Briton -are identified in the lower margin. Johannes Oertel, born in Fürth, Germany, served an apprenticeship with an engraver in nearby Nuremberg. Following the 1848 German revolution he emigrated to the United States, settled in Newark, New Jersey, and became a drawing teacher.³ His subsequent career combined painting, engraving for banknote companies, and twenty years of service as rector of various Protestant-Episcopal congregations in Florida, North Carolina, and other southern states. Oertel's works included religious subjects, landscapes, and animals. In 1857 he was among the artists who decorated the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Notes: 1 Westchester County borders the Bronx. When the Bronx became part of Greater New York in 1898, the southern portion of the region, including the Jerome Race Track area, was annexed to the Bronx. 2 The number of paintings in the collection that depict stables and horse driving reflects the popularity of the theme as a subject for artists during the second half of the nineteenth century. Examples include John McAuliffe's Frank Work Driving a Fast Team of Trotters (acc. no. 29.100.1312); Jay Hambridge's Summer on the Speedway (acc. no. 34.100.33); and Louis Maurer's The New York Riding Club at Judge Smith's, Jerome Avenue and 167th Street, 1886 (acc. no. 58.146.1). 3 M. and M. Karolik Collection of American Water Colors and Drawings, 1800 -1875 (Boston: Museum of Fine Arts, 1962), vol. 2, p. 79. Richard Koke, in A Catalog of the Collection, Including Historical, Narrative, and Marine Art (Boston: G. K. Hall, 1982), relates that in 1881 Oertel taught Christian art at the University of the South and that during 1889-1891 he was on the art faculty at Washington University, St. Louis.