Leatherstocking's Rescue

Leatherstocking's Rescue

John Quidor

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

While better known for his paintings based on the writings of Washington Irving, Quidor also painted scenes from the popular novels of James Fenimore Cooper. In this episode from The Pioneers (1823), the woodsman Natty Bumppo, also known as Leatherstocking, rescues two comely young women from a female panther, which, in protecting her cub, destroyed their dog and then turned, threateningly, to them. Quidor enhanced the fantastic and horrific aspects of the story in the highly stylized setting of twisted tree trunks and roots, which take on menacing shapes.

The American Wing

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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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.