Provenance: A private collection, Colorado

Literature: The Life and Art of Charles Schreyvogel, by James D. Horan, Crown Publishers Inc., New York, 1969: Platinum Prints, p. 3 One of the great action painters of the American West, Charles Schreyvogel missed much of the action of the Old West, but an 1890s trip to the Ute Reservation gave him many opportunities to talk to the fighters on both sides—the American troopers and the Native American fighters. “Schreyvogel’s obsession for detail and historical accuracy never flagged,” wrote James D. Horan in The Life and Art of Charles Schreyvogel. “He met many officers and cavalrymen who had taken part in the Plains wars, and he listened enthralled to their memories of the days only a few decades past when the tribes were shrewd and powerful foes. He also talked to Indian veterans of the wars, using the laborious sign language and his homemade dictionary. He was not content with stories—sometimes full blown. He demanded details. What did the troopers wear? What color were their trousers? What type revolvers did they carry? What were the size and thickness of the stirrup leathers, the type of headdress worn by the chiefs? Were the feathers eagle or hawk? Were their ponies painted for war with the tails bobbed?”