TheAutry.org »

painting

Miller, Alfred J.

The Lost Greenhorn

circa 1860

Oil on canvas

23 1/4 in x 14 3/4 in (59 cm x 37.4 cm); Framed: 31 1/2 in x 24 in (80 cm x 60.9 cm)

Carl S. Dentzel Family Collection

3023.G.54

Southwest Museum of the American Indian Collection, Autry Museum of the American West

Art and Artifacts

Painting by Alfred Jacob Miller, The Lost Greenhorn, circa 1860. The 1840s-1850s saw a transformation of the Western trapper into a national icon, independent and resourceful. Actual mountain men, like Kit Carson, and fictional characters like the Lost Greenhorn acted out a story of the fur trade as an adventure for young, single men. Eastern audiences responded with enthusiasm.

riding horses

fur trade

clouds

Art of the West selected works from the Autry Museum / edited by Amy Scott ; foreword by Stephen Aron ; afterword by Brian W. Dippie. page 66