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3. Anonymous American (19th Century) A Naked Man and Horse, Fallen at the Edge of a Pier
Original drawing in pen and black ink and wash, 239 x 248 mm., on laid paper with an illegible name (?) penciled on the reverse. The meaning of this totally bizarre image is virtually incomprehensible until one recalls Lord Byron’s poem Mazeppa and the legend upon which it is based. In the story, Mazeppa, in punishment for an adulterous relationship with a Polish countess, is tied naked to a wild horse which is set free to gallop through Eastern Europe and brings Mazeppa near to death. The story spread throughout Europe and was dramatized for the theater, where it became, according to one source, “the most widely performed drama in the American west from the 1860s to the turn of the century” (Wikepedia). Of course, the rider here is not tied to his horse; he holds reins and a club. He may not be Mazeppa -- in which case the drawing becomes, again, incomprehensible and perhaps even more bizarre. |
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