Head of a Buffalo

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Head of a Buffalo

Date

July 19, 1833

Dimensions

10 5/8 × 14 3/4 in. (27 × 37.5 cm)

Medium

Watercolor and ink on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.338

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

On July 18, passengers on board the keelboat sighted a grizzly on the riverbank feeding on the carcass of a buffalo cow. The next day hunters from the Flora chased another bear along the banks near the mouth of the Milk River. Maximilian's journal entry for July 19 mentions beaver on the Missouri and notes that passengers on the boat caught sight of their first moose on this date. Bodmer's study of the head of a buffalo, derived from a specimen obtained at some point below the mouth of the Big Dry River, is dated this same day.

References in Journal

July 19, 1833

Labels:

zoological study

Approximate Depicted Location:

Below mouth of Big Dry River