Museum receives important grant

The Harness Racing Museum & Hall of Fame has been awarded a grant of $3,340 for treatment of its 1865 oil painting Rysdyk’s Hambletonian, by J.H. Wright. The conservation will be undertaken by the Museum’s paintings’ conservator Alexander Katlan, Alexander Katlan Conservator, Inc. of Flushing, NY.

 

This well known rendering of the Standardbred foundation sire Hambletonian 10, standing in his stall with his owner and commissioner of the painting, William Rysdyk, was purchased by the Museum in 1960. The previous owner, George Andrews, was bequeathed the work by his aunt, Rysdyk’s widow, Elvira.

 

Hambletonian 10, T2:48½ was foaled in 1849 by Abdallah 1 out of the Charles Kent Mare. Hambletonian was purchased with his dam from breeder Jonas Seeley for $125 by William Rysdyk, a Chester, NY farmer. In late October, 1852, as a two-year-old, he was matched in a trial, with Abdallah Chief; Hambletonian won in 3:03. A day or two later he trialed in 2:48 (2:48½ on some watches, so Rysdyk always gave the time as 2:48½). He only trialed his colt this one time, then placed him in stud in Chester and bred him to local mares.

 

An increasing production of speedy offspring soon made him the top sire of what was to become known as the Standardbred horse. In twenty‑four seasons, he sired over 1,300 foals, many of them champions and foundation sires in their own right. Hambletonian lives today in almost every trotter and pacer racing. His stud fees earned Rysdyk in excess of $200,000. The great progenitor, Hambletonian, died in 1876, in Chester, NY.

 

The artist Henry Wright was a successful painter based in New York City specializing in portraiture, still life, and landscapes. Between 1842 and 1860 he exhibited at the National Academy of Design and at the American Art Union. Wright painted portraits of a number of prominent people, including one of Daniel Webster in the collection of the U.S. Senate. Several of Wright’s paintings are also in the collection of the New York Historical Society, and he is represented in the collections of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Montclair Art Museum and others.

 

The grantor, Greater Hudson Heritage Network, received 53 conservation project applications and awarded a total of $120,426 to 26 organizations, located in 18 counties of New York, in association with the Museum Program of the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), a state agency. These funds will provide treatment by professional conservators to aid in stabilizing, preserving, and making accessible to the public an array of unique objects in collections of New York’s museums, historical and cultural organizations of all sizes. The grants will support treatment of ancient Anasazi pottery vessels and modern mixed-media sculpture, historic flags, jackets and braided textile pictures, 19th century board games, hand-drawn maps, works on paper, and paintings—including a 16th c. Dutch Mannerist oil painting, 19th century portraits of people and race horses, landscapes and gilt frames.

 

Grants are awarded for conservation of objects that, once treated, will impact public interpretive programs, exhibitions and education. Non-profit organizations with stewardship responsibility for cultural collections, (but without in-house conservation staff) were eligible applicants; state or federally owned collections are ineligible for support. Grant funding can treat paintings, works on paper, textiles, furniture, sculpture, ethnographic, historical and decorative objects, and may also support accompanying professional treatment of frames, supports, stands and mounts if integral to the final public presentation of the object, after conservation.

 

Greater Hudson Heritage Network strives to provide support for conservation treatments that are executed on the highest professional level. The field of conservation is continually changing, with pioneering research and dissemination of findings on innovative materials and techniques. Although there are many paths into the field of conservation, practitioners who have demonstrated high levels of proficiency and advanced knowledge, and adherence to the ethics and standards of the American Institute of Conservation (AIC), are acknowledged and recognized for their expertise in the museum field.

 

These grants lead to public impact outcomes beyond the actual conservation of museum objects, including new interest in the state’s varied collections, and increased public awareness of the museum’s role as steward, and has proven a spark to further institutional, strategic, financial and long-range conservation planning. Beyond these outcomes, grant recipients report that Conservation Treatment funding prompts greater use of collections (for exhibition, web content and loan), enhanced interpretive capability, and expanded opportunities to educate the public about art, history, humanities, the science of conservation, and museum work itself. (Harness Racing Museum)