The Last Drop (from McGuire Scrapbook)

Emanuel Leutze

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Leutze is best known for his large-scale history paintings such as "Washington Crossing the Delaware". He was interested in American Indian subjects throughout his career, and in this sketch he imagines a lone figure drinking from a forest pond. The Indian’s pose recalls the Hellenistic sculpture known as the "Dying Gaul" (Museo Capitolino, Rome). This classical reference reinforces the impression of the contemplative Indian as a “noble savage,” a popular Romantic concept during the mid-nineteenth century.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The American Wing's ever-evolving collection comprises some 20,000 works of art by African American, Euro American, Latin American, and Native American men and women. Ranging from the colonial to early-modern periods, the holdings include painting, sculpture, works on paper, and decorative arts—including furniture, textiles, ceramics, glass, silver, metalwork, jewelry, basketry, quill and bead embroidery—as well as historical interiors and architectural fragments.

Metropolitan Museum of Art