Plate 41. "View of the Stone Walls on the upper Missouri"

Karl Bodmer, (1809-1893), is considered by many to be the greatest 19th-century artist to have produced prints of the American west. Bodmer and his patron, Prince Maximilian of Wied, came to America from Germany in 1832. Prince Maximilian, an experienced and respected traveler and naturalist, set out to put together as complete a study as possible of the western territories of the United States. He hired Bodmer to create watercolors and drawings to pictorially document the expedition. The artist’s works provide not only an invaluable record of the landscape and its inhabitants but many are also finely finished works of art. The exploring party returned to Europe in 1834 and Bodmer spent the next four years directly supervising the production of aquatinted copperplates based upon his designs.  The result was the publication of Maximilian's journals, Travels in the Interior of North America in the Years 1832 to 1834, in successive German, French, and English editions between 1839 and 1843, accompanied by a picture atlas of eighty-one aquatinted engravings based upon Bodmer’s work. These engravings are now regarded as the most comprehensive, beautiful and valuable records of the western territories ever made.
This engraving depicts the majestic scenery on the Upper Missouri River in what is now the state of Montana. The area is known for its spectacular rock formations and sure footed rocky mountain sheep. It has changed little from the time of Bodmer and Maximilian.

17 ¼ x 23 5/8 inches, sheet.
Aquatinted engraving.
Very nice condition save repaired tear into left bottom margin.
With blind stamp.