Study for a Buffalo Hunt

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

Study for a Buffalo Hunt

Date

October 11, 1833

Dimensions

6 3/8 × 8 5/8 in. (16.2 × 21.9 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.345

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Maximilian and Bodmer took active parts in the buffalo hunt near Fort Union on October 11. Maximilian later reported in his diary that he became separated from the main party of hunters and spent the better part of an hour looking for them, riding "across the bare prairie .... It was already close to dusk when I heard shooting and finally found Baptiste Marcellais, who had killed two animals, of which he was just cutting one up. The second lay behind a summit where I found Bodmer, who was just about to draft a sketch of it." Following the October 11 hunt, Maximilian and Bodmer found their way back to the hunter's camp before sundown. The party bedded down on the prairie for the night. Maximilian had forgotten his buffalo robe and woolen blankets in setting out that morning, but he managed to borrow some, relating in his journal that the company slept very well despite a rather heavy rain. The next day they returned to the fort, where Maximilian and his traveling companions remained until October 30. Bodmer's watercolor sketch is dated October 11 and was probably done in the field, although possibly finished later at Fort Union.

References in Journal

October 11, 1833

Labels:

study , zoological study , Fort Union, North Dakota

Approximate Depicted Location:

Fort Union, North Dakota