“The Indian man. and Sitting Bull/ man/ Both fight” (Artist’s inscription, verso)

“A battle scene involving Sitting Bull (see Nº9) is the subject of this drawing. Sitting Bull, carrying a crooked staff wrapped in otterskin (a sign of a brave man in a warrior society), has just shot an enemy's horse. The horse has fallen; the rider is thrown. Two other mounted warriors rush in. One wears a feathered headdress with a trailer and carries the feathered lance of a warrior society. The other wears the sash and carries the sword (see Nº25) of another warrior society. In keeping with traditional conventions, the action is not placed within a landscape setting and a minimal amount of depth is indicated by placing the figures behind each other.” (p.32)

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.