Skeleton of the Mammoth Horse, which was exhibited a few years ago in Philadelphia

Object Status:

Unlocated

Primary Source Reference:

Peale Museum Accessions Book, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, p. 114

Additional Source Text:

"Measured when living 20 hands high, raised in Long Island New York State. Also a Human Skeleton of large size, mounted on the hors[e]'s back, representing West's Painting of Death on the Pale Horse, Prepared and deposited by Dr. Richard Harlan."

Notes:

This display "of a gigantic human skeleton mounted on the skeleton of one of the largest horses that we have yet heard of" was meant to evoke Benjamin West's monumental painting "Death on the Pale Horse," which was based on the Book of Revelation 6:8, in which the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse — Death, War, Famine, and Pestilence — ravage the earth. West executed several versions of the painting over many years, including one in 1796 pictured here. The Museum display may have looked something like the one pictured here from the Australian Museum, Sydney, Australia.

Peale published an account of the display (which references "Death on the Pale Horse" without mentioning West) in American and Commercial Daily Advertiser (Philadelphia), 5 June 1821. Selected Papers, 4: 56-57

The donor, Richard Harlan (1796-1843), M.D., was an American paleontologist, anatomist, and physician. He was appointed the Peale Museum's professor of comparative anatomy in April 1821.

Specimen Type:

Skeletons/skulls/bones