The random monthly pick: Mr. John Bill Ricketts, equestrian extraordinaire and favorite of George Washington

Mr. Ricketts lately from London respectfully acquaints the public that he has erected at considerable expense a circus, situated at the corner of Market and Twelfth Streets where he proposes instructing Ladies and Gentlemen in the elegant accomplishments of riding. -The Circus will be opened on Thursday Next, the 25th October 1792. (Federal Gazette and Philadelphia Daily Advertiser, 23 October 1792)

Sensing opportunity in the young American Republic, John Bill Ricketts left England and opened first an equestrian academy, later turning it into a circus shortly after his arrival in Philadelphia in 1792. By spring 1793 he had trained enough horses to promote the kind of equestrian entertainment he had headlined in London, and for the first month performed alone in the ring “to the delight of the city's amusement-hungry crowds, which included, on April 24, the nation's most distinguished horseman, President George Washington.” http://explorepahistory.com

John Bill Ricketts by Gilbert Stuart ca 1795-99

Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of Mrs. Robert B. Noyes in memory of Elisha Riggs. 1942.14.1

This unfinished portrait is of John Bill Ricketts, magical equestrian who rode his talent and riding ability into fame and fortune in the young American Republic, if only for a short period of time. In a spectacular fire in 1799 his circus burned to the ground, he set sail for the West Indies in search of new adventure, was captured by pirates, escaped, regained some of his lost fortune, but upon sailing back to England about 1803, perished forever during the crossing of the seas.

The Stuart portrait was not completed as “...the artist, becoming angry at the equestrian, who gave him a good deal of trouble by his want of promptitude and the delays which occurred, is said to have dashed his paintbrush into the face of the portrait, declaring that he would have nothing more to do with him.” J. Thomas Scharf and T. Westcott, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884 (Philadelphia: L.H.Everts and Co. 1884), Vol II, p 1044

Only the head of Ricketts was completed, but to at least provide some innovation to the picture, Gibby, with a few strokes of the brush, added a few details of a horse’s head to the dark background.

Credit: Courtesy of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania

Etching of Mr. Bill Ricketts, "the Equestrian Hero," circa 1796.

“A trained horse, named for the old Seneca chief, “Cornplanter,” which would jump over another horse 14 hands (56 inches) high, was also introduced, and several pantomines were brought out successfully. Among Mr. Ricketts’ various feats at this time were his throwing a somersault over 30 men’s heads and over five horses with their mounted riders; her would also ride two horses at full gallop and leap over a garter or ribbon 12 feet high, or ride the same horses, each foot on a quart-mug standing loose on the saddles, and at times would mount on the shoulders of two riders, each standing on a separate horse, “forming a Pyramid 15 feet hight,” a feat never before attempted by any equestrian. Young Ricketts, emulating his father, would leap over a spiked bar or ride around the ring, his head balanced on a pint-mug resting on the saddle; he would also dismount blind-folded, pick up a watch and remount...”
The circus; its origin and growth prior to 1835, Copyright 1909 by Isaac J. Greenwood New York. pps 86-7

and finally, to mark the end of 2009... ein Goethe-Gedicht zum Jahreswechsel:

~

Das neue Jahr sieht mich freundlich an,

und ich lasse das alte mit seinem Sonnenschein und Wolken

ruhig hinter mir.

*

*

*