Prospecting for Cattle Range
1889
Frederic Remington brings the rugged American West to life in this scene of two cowboys and a pack horse navigating a treacherous, rocky landscape cluttered with fallen timber. Far from the glamorous Hollywood version of the frontier, this painting captures the gritty, exhausting reality of 'prospecting' for new cattle ranges. Remington was a master of Western realism, often riding along with cowboys to get the details just right—down to the weary expressions and the tangled mess of dead trees underfoot.