Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri

BODMER, Karl (1809-1893).
Herds of Bisons and Elks on the upper Missouri, Tab., 47 (State 2).
Aquatint engraving with original hand color.
From: "Travels in the Interior of North America".Paris, London, & Coblenz, 1839-1843.
18 1/8" x 24 3/4" sheet.
With Blindstamp.

In May 1837, Bodmer suggested both "Bison and elk herds" and "Bison herd on upper Missouri" to Maximilian as separate images, and noted that Tableau 47 was already completed. That the subject, structure, and mood of the two tableaux strongly resemble one another may not be coincidence. As John Sears has argued, the intention may have been to document the environments of the plants and animals Maximilian came to study in North America: "Specimens, of course, could be preserved and shipped back to Germany; the appearance of the landscape in which they were found could not. Thus, one of the primary purposes of Bodmer's paintings was to record the environments in which the members of the expedition collected specimens." Because bison and elk were of particular interest to the naturalist, and because their picturesque surroundings appealed to Bodmer's artistic sensibilities, it is no surprise that two nearly identical images should be included in the atlas.