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The Mountain Man

Founder Cast by Roman Bronze Works
1903, cast by March 1907
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 765
Equal parts trapper and explorer, the Rocky Mountain man played a central role in the North American fur trade, which reached its peak in the 1830s and 1840s. The archetype assumed heroic stature as the quintessential Euro-American Westerner, later supplanted in the public imagination by the cowboy. The Mountain Man depicts a dramatic moment in the daily life of a buckskin-clad trapper in which he and his mount work together to descend a precarious slope, harmoniously prevailing over the wilderness. Cast by New York’s Roman Bronze Works foundry in the lost-wax technique, the earliest "Mountain Man" statuettes are sharply delineated with a rich variety of textures, from the fringed buckskin garment to the animal’s hairy coat to the rocklike base.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Mountain Man
  • Artist: Frederic Remington (American, Canton, New York 1861–1909 Ridgefield, Connecticut)
  • Founder: Cast by Roman Bronze Works
  • Date: 1903, cast by March 1907
  • Culture: American
  • Medium: Bronze
  • Dimensions: 27 3/4 x 12 x 10 in. (70.5 x 30.5 x 25.4 cm)
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1907
  • Object Number: 07.79
  • Curatorial Department: The American Wing

More Artwork

More Artwork
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The Old Dragoons of 1850, Frederic Remington American, Bronze, American
The Old Dragoons of 1850
Frederic Remington
Roman Bronze Works
1905, cast 1907
The Smoke Signal, Frederic Remington American, Color lithograph
The Smoke Signal
Frederic Remington
1923–60
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. LXXXI, No. 485, Frederic Remington American, Illustrations: wood engravings
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. LXXXI, No. 485
Multiple artists/makers
October 1890
The Century, New Year's Number, January, Frederic Remington American, Lithograph
The Century, New Year's Number, January
Frederic Remington
1902
The Rattlesnake, Frederic Remington American, Bronze, American
The Rattlesnake
Frederic Remington
Roman Bronze Works
1905, revised 1908; this cast, before 1939

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