“The three Indian man/ and one Sitting Bull/ Sitting Bull kill one Indian/ man” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“This drawing depicts Sitting Bull (see also Nº16). Carrying his shield and feathered lance, Sitting Bull charges into a group of enemy warriors. One warrior, already wounded, has dropped his bow and quiver and is being carried off by a companion. A third warrior covers their retreat.

There are a number of traditional painting conventions in the drawing. A retreat is indicated by the tracks leading from the spot where the weapons were dropped to the figures retreating (see also Nº24). The single warrior shoots a single arrow, but several arrows surround the intended target, suggesting a compression of time. Finally, there is no placement of the action within a landscape context.” (p.27)

William S. Wierzbowski and Helen M. Mangelsdorf in Images of a Vanished Life: Plains Indian Drawing from the Collection of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 1985.