Lot 461: O/C, Cavalry Man, Bugle, R. Caton Woodville

This painting depicts a cavalryman on horseback with a bugle to his lips. Another man on horseback trots behind him to the right, looking behind them. An older man walks beside the bugle player's horse, holding the reins in a firm grip to prevent the horse from moving while the player blows into his bugle. All three wear the yellow uniform of cavalrymen of the time.

36.25 x 24.25"

Oil Paint, Canvas

1900

In-painting at the bottom in three, 2" by 3" blotches approximately 1" above the bottom edge of the frame.

Born in England, Richard Caton Woodville Jr. was an artist illustrator and military painter and also the son of a famous American artist, Richard Caton Woodville (1825-1855). The son was born after the death by an accidental morphine overdose of his father. Woodville Jr. studied at the Royal Academy of Dusseldorf, 1872-1875, but left because of a scandal involving him and the daughter of actress Jenny Lind. He completed his training at the Royal Academy in London and then became a special artist for the Illustrated London News. At the London Royal Academy, he also exhibited huge historical battle paintings, which brought "lavish tributes and the favor of Queen Victoria although she did not approve of his many love affairs". In 1884, he began illustrating the American West but reportedly did not visit there until 1890, when he had a roving assignment to depict American and Canadian outdoor life. Along with Charles Remington and Jerome Howard Smith, he covered the Sioux Indian War of 1890 to 1891 and rode with the cavalry, "depicting the final military defeat of the Plains Indians." For the remaining twenty years of his life following his return to London, Woodville was the most prolific illustrator in Europe of the American West. In 1927, he shot himself, having been confined to his home with war wounds and experiencing the death of his mistress.