- 80
Charles Schreyvogel 1861 - 1912
Description
- Charles Schreyvogel
- The Last Drop
- inscribed Copyrighted 1903 by Chas. Schreyvogel with the Roman Bronze Works N-Y- foundry mark and numbered No 70 beneath the base
- bronze, dark brown patina
- height: 12 in.
- (30.5 cm)
Provenance
Private Collection, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above
Literature
Paul Rossi and David Hunt, The Art of the Old West, New York, 1971, illustration of another example p. 230
Patricia Janis Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, p. 205, illustrations of other examples, pls. 205-206, pp. 203-204
Catalogue Note
Charles Schreyvogel, Remington's chief artistic competitor of the period, was initially exposed to frontier life through the spectacle of Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show. He eventually became close friends with the show's manager Nate Salisbury. It wasn't until 1893, at the age of thirty-two, that Schreyvogel first traveled west to the Ute Reservation in Colorado, where he sketched cowboys, Apaches and their ponies. While there, he interviewed many veterans of the plains wars, including officers, cavalrymen, and Indians, gathering details about their experiences. Schreyvogel was so inspired by their stories that, upon his return to his home in New Jersey, he resolved to become the painter-historian of the Army of the American West. Depicting every detail of the Indian wars that dominated the last years of the frontier era, Schreyvogel often portrayed the heroism of the cavalrymen who fought to open the West. For these cavalry troopers, their most important possessions were their horses. The present sculpture depicts the soldier's devotion to his steed as he allows his horse to drink his last drop of water from his hat.