Charles Schreyvogel (1861-1912)
Charles Schreyvogel (1861-1912)
Charles Schreyvogel (1861-1912)
5 More
Charles Schreyvogel (1861-1912)
8 More
Property from an Important New York Collection
CHARLES SCHREYVOGEL (1861-1912)

The Last Drop

Details
CHARLES SCHREYVOGEL (1861-1912)
The Last Drop
inscribed 'Copyrighted 1903 by/Chas Schreyvogel' (on top of the base)—inscribed 'ROMAN BRONZE WORKS N-Y-' (along the base)—inscribed 'No 131' (beneath the base)
bronze with black and green patina
12 in. (30.5 cm.) high
Modeled in 1903.
Provenance
Private collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Scottdale Art Auction, Scottsdale, Arizona, 5 April 2008, lot 133, sold by the above.
Acquired by the late owner from the above.
Literature
H. McCracken, Great Painters and Illustrators of the Old West, New York, 1952, p. 202.
E. Ainsworth, The Cowboy in Art, New York, 1968, pp. 48-49, another example illustrated.
J.D. Horan, The Life and Art of Charles Schreyvogel: Painter-Historian of the Indian-Fighting Army of the American West, New York, 1969, p. 27, pl. 39, another example illustrated.
P. Rossi, D. Hunt, The Art of the Old West, New York, 1971, p. 230, another example illustrated.
P.J. Broder, Bronzes of the American West, New York, 1974, pp. 202, 204-05, another example illustrated.
H. McCracken, The West of Buffalo Bill: Frontier Art, Indian Crafts, Memorabilia from the Buffalo Bill Historical Center, New York, 1974, p. 196.
Birmingham Museum of Art, Art of the American West, Birmingham, Alabama, 1983, p. 30.
Museum of Western Art, Frontier Spirit: Catalog of the Collection of the Museum of Western Art, Denver, Colorado, 1983, p. 110, no. 76, another example illustrated.
G.A. Reynolds, American Bronze Sculpture: 1850 to the Present, Newark, New Jersey, 1984, p. 23.
Taft Museum of Art, Home on the Range: American Western Art from a Cincinnati Collection, exhibition catalogue, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1994, p. 71.
S. Campbell, The American West: People, Places, and Ideas, Corning, New York, 2001, n.p., pl. 62, another example illustrated.
L.D. Rosenfeld, A Century of American Sculpture: The Roman Bronze Works Foundry, New York, 2002, p. 138.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, The American West in Bronze: 1850-1925, exhibition catalogue, New York, 2013, pp. 116-17, 120-22, 164, 185n14, fig. 146, 152, 153, no. 70, 71, other examples illustrated.

Brought to you by

Tylee Abbott
Tylee Abbott Vice President, Head of American Art

Lot Essay


Charles Schreyvogel employed sculpture as a tool for modeling subjects for his paintings and ultimately cast only two bronzes in his lifetime. For his 1899 oil The Last Drop, the artist created a clay model to study the forms of the kneeling figure and horse and eventually began casting the model in 1903 in bronze. Retaining the same name as the painting for which it was initially created, the bronze The Last Drop resonated with audiences and became a highly popular statuette with more than 150 authorized casts.

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