Herd of Bison on the Upper Missouri
Engraved jointly by Bishop and Himely Printed by Bougeard (unavailable - please enquire)
Tableau 40. Herd of Bison on the Upper Missouri
$3,500.00

Maximilian described the upper Missouri country as a "naturalist's paradise" in his account of the voyage upriver from Fort Union, and Bodmer made several studies of the bison, elk, and other animals they encountered or observed enroute to Fort McKenzie in the summer of 1833. Game was so plentiful that the hunters from the keelboat had no trouble in supplying ample provisions for its passengers and crew.

On July 10, four days out from Fort Union, large numbers of bison or buffalo appeared along the riverbank. On the 14th, below the mouth of the Milk River, Maximilian reported that a rare, white wolf had been seen in the vicinity of one of the herds grazing on the rich Missouri floodplain.

Bodmer later composed a watercolor featuring a landscape with buffalo which was reproduced in aquatint for the European atlas. The figure of a white wolf skulking in the lower left foreground of the watercolor does not, however, appear in the print.

In some hand-colored examples of this subject, a dramatic effect was produced by emphasizing the sunset beyond the bluffs in the background which is only faintly suggested in the engraving itself and not at all in the original watercolor.

Another of Bodmer's watercolors depicting bison and elk descending the Missouri bluffs was reproduced in Tableau 47 of this series. Other animal subjects are featured in Vignettes XVII and XXI, and Tableaux 29, 31, 36, 37, and 41.

Text by David Hunt, Director, Stark Museum, Orange, Texas, USA

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