The Last Arrow

The "Last Arrow" was created in Rome, where expatriate American sculptors were drawn by the ready availability of statuary marble and access to skilled craftsmen. Most of Rogers’s sculptures were marble, but he occasionally worked in bronze. "The Last Arrow" is a hybrid of sorts: a Neoclassical approach to form is exemplified by the lower figure, whose pose is reminiscent of that of the "Dying Gaul" (Roman copy after Greek original, ca. 230–220 b.c.), yet Rogers’s cosmopolitan patrons could easily identify the subject as American. "The Last Arrow" offers a twist on the Native American combat subject—here the arrow-induced gash on the chest of the fallen warrior suggests that it was the result of intertribal warfare. The man on horseback, positioned to release his final arrow, is a metaphor for bravery and resistance, regardless of foe.