The Old Dragoons of 1850 1905 - 1907

Frederic Remington made "The Old Dragoons of 1850" sometime before his death in 1909, no doubt working with clay and then bronze, letting the liquid metal capture the frenetic energy of the scene. Look at how Remington has rendered these horses and riders in mid-gallop, a flurry of limbs and torsos, all pushing forward with incredible speed and force. You can almost hear the thundering hooves and the shouts of the soldiers. I imagine Remington, wrestling with the clay, trying to capture the tension and drama of the moment. There's a real physicality to it, like he's trying to mold the very air around the figures, not unlike that which the men and horses would experience during battle. Remington captures a certain romanticism of the Wild West, a theme he returned to again and again. Like a painter building up layers of color, Remington layered detail upon detail here, achieving a rich and dynamic surface. It's a reminder that art doesn't just reflect history; it actively shapes our understanding of it. And that's a conversation worth continuing.