Leatherstocking's Rescue

Artist:: John Quidor (1801–1881)

Date:: 1832

Medium:: Oil on canvas

Dimensions:: 26 x 34 in. (66 x 86.4 cm)

Classification:: Paintings

Credit Line:: Gift of Erving Wolf Foundation, in memory of Diane R. Wolf, 1978

Accession Number:: 1978.262

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 758

While better known for his paintings based on the writings of Washington Irving, Quidor also painted scenes from the popular novels of James Fenimore Cooper. In this episode from The Pioneers (1823), the woodsman Natty Bumppo, also known as Leatherstocking, rescues two comely young women from a female panther, which, in protecting her cub, destroyed their dog and then turned, threateningly, to them. Quidor enhanced the fantastic and horrific aspects of the story in the highly stylized setting of twisted tree trunks and roots, which take on menacing shapes.

#4570. Leatherstocking's Rescue

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Signature: [at lower center]: J. Quidor, Pinxt. / N. Y. 1832; [on the back before lining]: J. Quidor N. York 1832

possibly Susan Fenimore Cooper, Cooperstown, New York, died 1894; possibly A. F. de Forest, New York; with Bernard Danenberg Galleries, New York, until 1970; Douglas Collins, Longmeadow, Massachusetts, 1970–1972; with Vose Galleries, Boston, 1972– 1978

American Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 1, A Catalogue of Works by Artists Born by 1815

Department

American Paintings and Sculpture (5,341)

Artist / Maker / Culture

John Quidor (2)

Object Type / Material

Canvas (4,812)

Oil paintings (3,010)

Paintings (13,168)

Date / Era

A.D. 1800–1900 (107,119)