The Mountain Man

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. He 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. The Metropolitan Museum purchased this statuette—and three others—from Remington in 1907.