As with "The Terrible Coney", this woodcut's style owes a debt to many Renaissance influences. I had been looking at a number of images of knightly steeds and hunting dogs, when I got to thinking about greyhound racing. Punters are encouraged to think of the dogs like little horses, and the poor things are just raced until they are used up and can no longer win. An especially fast greyhound, like a derby-winning stallion, might look forward to a retirement career as a stud, but not much more. Hence the title, "Thoroughbred".

I had also been thinking about a sometime feature of circus sideshows, in which monkeys were trained as wee jockeys to ride dogs. Now that's entertainment! This doggy steed is riderless at present, but more compositions with dogs and monkeys are in the works.

"Thoroughbred" was created for an exchange portfolio of the [Baren] Forum on Woodblock Printmaking.

[detail enlargement]