Paintings
The Race Track (Death on a Pale Horse)
Permanent ExhibitionPainting
Details
- Author / creator
- Albert Pinkham Ryder (American, 1847–1917)
- Object type
- Painting
- Date or period
- c. 1896–1908
- Dimensions summary
- Framed: 84.5 × 102 × 6.5 cm; Unframed: 70.5 × 90 cm
- Support
- Canvas
- Paint medium
- Oil
- Place of origin
- United States
- Acquisition method
- Purchase
- Credit line
- Purchased with the Public appeal (1998), 1928
About this object
Ryder’s subject was inspired by a horse race that took place in New York during 1888. One of the artist’s friends wagered $500 on the race and then died by suicide after the horse lost. Medieval symbolism infuses the composition: death appears as a skeleton on horseback holding a scythe with which it cuts down the living, while a snake—a sign of temptation and evil—slithers in the foreground. An intense man, Ryder worked on the painting for several years and was deeply reluctant to part with it.
Materials and technique
Oil on canvas
Signature and marks
Signed lower left: "A. P. Ryder"
