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The Rattlesnake is a daring composition that consists of a carefully balanced horse and rider; the horse, frightened by a diminutive rattlesnake on the ground below him, rears up on his back legs, while the cowboy, in a counter movement, leans forward, struggling to hold on and to keep his hat on his head. The rider’s left arm and leg form strong diagonals that parallel the position of the horse’s leg, and the curve of the cowboy’s back is continued down through the animal’s haunches. The texture of the woolly chaps mirrors the rough surface of the ground below. The horse’s expression is one of utter fear and the swoop of his tail moves the viewer’s eye back to his head. The high sheen of the surface and its greenish-brown patina serve to unify the sculpture.
Remington was able to create this cantilevered design by using bronze, whose inherent strength permitted asymmetrically placed figures. He employed the lost wax process, which allowed him to incorporate such details as the cowboy’s belt and holster, the reins and saddle, and the piercing eyes of the horse. An ancient method, lost wax was revived in America during the 1890s, completely transforming how sculptors conceived of their work. Using clay—or what Remington called “mud”—the artist prepared his model, then cast it into plaster to which wax and a malleable gelatinous material was applied to create the final mold, into which molten bonze was poured, melting and replacing the wax. In the lost wax process, sculptors had greater control and could rework details before the final casting. [2]
Beginning in 1900, Remington collaborated closely with the Roman Bonze Works, which produced both versions of The Rattlesnake. The first, which was modeled in 1905, was revised and enlarged by four inches three years later, achieving a more self-contained, virtuoso grouping. Concerned that the two versions might be compared, Remington noted in his diary, “Finished the Rattlesnake and it is a great improvement on the other. I hope no one ever sees them together.” [3] Over a fifteen-year period, Remington created twenty-two bronzes. He worked with Tiffany and Company to sell them, often checking on the inventory himself and urging Roman Bronze Works to resupply. Reynolda House owns the twenty-fifth cast of the second version of The Rattlesnake. The second version was cast 113 times, many of them posthumously. In 1918, when Remington’s wife died, she specified in her will that all molds be destroyed.
The Rattlesnake is a supreme example of Remington’s vision of the inseparability of horse and rider. They are united visually and emotionally as they confront a mutual enemy. Ever the horseman and storyteller, Remington published a comprehensive article entitled “Horses of the Plains” for the prestigious Century magazine, in which he explains the salient characteristics of various equine breeds. He recounts how on a twenty-four mile trip through the desert of Arizona, he rode at a gallop, but at the end the horse “stood like a rock, and was as good as at starting, having only sweated the normal amount. The best test of a horse is not what he can do but how easily he can do it. Some of the best specimens of horse and rider which I have ever had the occasion to admire were Mexican vaqueros, and I have often thought the horses were more worthy than the men.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Thomas, “Recollections of Frederic Remington,” Century 86 (July 1913), 361 quoted in Michael Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981), 37.
[2] See Shapiro, Cast and Recast for a thorough explanation of the lost wax process.
[3] Shapiro, Cast and Recast, 53.
[4] Remington, Frederic Remington’s Own West, ed. by Harold McCracken (New York: Promontory Press, 1960), 103–104.
ProvenanceFrom 1927 to 1986
George H. Warner, purchased from Tiffany & Company, New York on September 26, 1927; his family, by descent until 1986. [1]
From 1986 to 1996
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc. New York, NY on June 3, 1986. [2]
From 1996
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on March 19, 1996. [3]
Notes:
[1] Invoice, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., June 3, 1986, object file.
[2] Invoice, 1986, object file.
[3] Deed of Gift, 1996, object file.
Exhibition History1986
From The Studio: Selections Of American Sculpture
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, NY (1986)
2006
Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (3/10/2006-7/16/2006)
2009
Figures in Bronze: Sculpture at Reynolda
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (4/14/2009-8/30/2009)
Published ReferencesSchapiro, Michael Edward. Cast And Recast: The Studio: Selections Of American Sculpture1811-1941. 53-54, no. 35.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 224, 225
DepartmentAmerican Art
The Rattlesnake
Artist
Frederic Remington
(1861 - 1909)
Datecirca 1908
Mediumbronze, green-ish-brown patina
Dimensions24 1/8 x 12 x 17 3/4 in. (61.3 x 30.5 x 45.1 cm)
SignedCopyright by
Frederic Remington
Credit LineGift of Barbara B. Millhouse
CopyrightPublic Domain
Object number1987.2.5
DescriptionFrederic Remington’s knowledge of and affection for horses began at an early age; the son of a colonel who fought in the cavalry during the Civil War, he rode extensively throughout his childhood in upstate New York. His passion for horses pervaded his illustrations and paintings, but truly bore fruit when he turned to bronze sculptures in 1894. His frequent goal in all media was to give the illusion of movement, and, to this end, he studied the photographs of Eadweard Muybridge, whose sequential frames of animal locomotion demonstrated that there is a moment in a horse’s gallop when all four feet leave the ground during a gallop. In his two-dimensional work, Remington repeatedly endeavored to show dramatic action, but realized that he could more realistically convey movement by presenting it in the round. This revelation was brought home to him in an exchange with a neighbor, the playwright Augustus Thomas, who, observing the artist sketching a figure from multiple points of view, commented: “Fred, you’re not a draughtsman; you’re a sculptor. You saw all around that fellow, and could have put him anywhere you wanted him. They call that the sculptor’s degree of vision.” [1]The Rattlesnake is a daring composition that consists of a carefully balanced horse and rider; the horse, frightened by a diminutive rattlesnake on the ground below him, rears up on his back legs, while the cowboy, in a counter movement, leans forward, struggling to hold on and to keep his hat on his head. The rider’s left arm and leg form strong diagonals that parallel the position of the horse’s leg, and the curve of the cowboy’s back is continued down through the animal’s haunches. The texture of the woolly chaps mirrors the rough surface of the ground below. The horse’s expression is one of utter fear and the swoop of his tail moves the viewer’s eye back to his head. The high sheen of the surface and its greenish-brown patina serve to unify the sculpture.
Remington was able to create this cantilevered design by using bronze, whose inherent strength permitted asymmetrically placed figures. He employed the lost wax process, which allowed him to incorporate such details as the cowboy’s belt and holster, the reins and saddle, and the piercing eyes of the horse. An ancient method, lost wax was revived in America during the 1890s, completely transforming how sculptors conceived of their work. Using clay—or what Remington called “mud”—the artist prepared his model, then cast it into plaster to which wax and a malleable gelatinous material was applied to create the final mold, into which molten bonze was poured, melting and replacing the wax. In the lost wax process, sculptors had greater control and could rework details before the final casting. [2]
Beginning in 1900, Remington collaborated closely with the Roman Bonze Works, which produced both versions of The Rattlesnake. The first, which was modeled in 1905, was revised and enlarged by four inches three years later, achieving a more self-contained, virtuoso grouping. Concerned that the two versions might be compared, Remington noted in his diary, “Finished the Rattlesnake and it is a great improvement on the other. I hope no one ever sees them together.” [3] Over a fifteen-year period, Remington created twenty-two bronzes. He worked with Tiffany and Company to sell them, often checking on the inventory himself and urging Roman Bronze Works to resupply. Reynolda House owns the twenty-fifth cast of the second version of The Rattlesnake. The second version was cast 113 times, many of them posthumously. In 1918, when Remington’s wife died, she specified in her will that all molds be destroyed.
The Rattlesnake is a supreme example of Remington’s vision of the inseparability of horse and rider. They are united visually and emotionally as they confront a mutual enemy. Ever the horseman and storyteller, Remington published a comprehensive article entitled “Horses of the Plains” for the prestigious Century magazine, in which he explains the salient characteristics of various equine breeds. He recounts how on a twenty-four mile trip through the desert of Arizona, he rode at a gallop, but at the end the horse “stood like a rock, and was as good as at starting, having only sweated the normal amount. The best test of a horse is not what he can do but how easily he can do it. Some of the best specimens of horse and rider which I have ever had the occasion to admire were Mexican vaqueros, and I have often thought the horses were more worthy than the men.” [3]
Notes:
[1] Thomas, “Recollections of Frederic Remington,” Century 86 (July 1913), 361 quoted in Michael Shapiro, Cast and Recast: The Sculpture of Frederic Remington. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981), 37.
[2] See Shapiro, Cast and Recast for a thorough explanation of the lost wax process.
[3] Shapiro, Cast and Recast, 53.
[4] Remington, Frederic Remington’s Own West, ed. by Harold McCracken (New York: Promontory Press, 1960), 103–104.
ProvenanceFrom 1927 to 1986
George H. Warner, purchased from Tiffany & Company, New York on September 26, 1927; his family, by descent until 1986. [1]
From 1986 to 1996
Barbara B. Millhouse, New York, NY and Winston-Salem, NC, purchased from Hirschl & Alder Galleries, Inc. New York, NY on June 3, 1986. [2]
From 1996
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC, given by Barbara B. Millhouse on March 19, 1996. [3]
Notes:
[1] Invoice, Hirschl & Adler Galleries, Inc., June 3, 1986, object file.
[2] Invoice, 1986, object file.
[3] Deed of Gift, 1996, object file.
Exhibition History1986
From The Studio: Selections Of American Sculpture
Hirschl and Adler Galleries, New York, NY (1986)
2006
Moving Pictures: American Art and Early Film, 1880-1910
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (3/10/2006-7/16/2006)
2009
Figures in Bronze: Sculpture at Reynolda
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Winston-Salem, NC (4/14/2009-8/30/2009)
Published ReferencesSchapiro, Michael Edward. Cast And Recast: The Studio: Selections Of American Sculpture1811-1941. 53-54, no. 35.
Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda: Her Muses, Her Stories , with contributions by Martha R. Severens and David Park Curry (Winston-Salem, N.C.: Reynolda House Museum of American Art affiliated with Wake Forest University, 2017). pg 224, 225
Status
On viewMay 5, 1980