"The Buffalo Hunt" sculpture in silver and bronze, on Ebonised wooden plinth.

26 inches high
23 inches long
15.5 inches front to back.

Signed on the Bronze "R MONTI 1873". For the Sculptor Raffael Monti (1818-1881)
The silver hallmarked on the Buffalo and on the horse For C. F. Hancock, London 1872.

Hancock exhibited at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 where they displayed several works by the illustrious artist Rafael Monti. This piece is not mentioned specifically in the brief description of their stand ... Read More

"The Buffalo Hunt" sculpture in silver and bronze, on Ebonised wooden plinth.

26 inches high
23 inches long
15.5 inches front to back.

Signed on the Bronze "R MONTI 1873". For the Sculptor Raffael Monti (1818-1881)
The silver hallmarked on the Buffalo and on the horse For C. F. Hancock, London 1872.

Hancock exhibited at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 where they displayed several works by the illustrious artist Rafael Monti. This piece is not mentioned specifically in the brief description of their stand

but it is likely that it was there. Hancocks's stand was considered the most impressive of the English Exhibitors and they won several prizes for their display. Pieces of this calibre were rarely produced for reasons other than special commission for presentation or for the purpose of exhibition.

Within the collection of the Gilcrease Museum collection is an all-bronze version of this sculpture presented as a race prize in America in 1874. In the museum listing under "marks and inscriptions" they state that it is "Signed, R. Monti, 1873 (after Catlin)". The attribution to "Catlin" refers to the American artist George Catlin, who specialised in paintings of the Native American culture and who died in 1872. He was resident in London in the years preceding his death, where his works were exhibited also. The subject of this sculpture is particularly unusual to see produced by artists during this period; it is easy to see the influence of Catlin in this piece; it is possible that Catlin and Monti were acquainted but, at the very least, we can tell from the astonishing accuracy of the detailing that Monti was almost certainly a student of Catlin's paintings and illustrations.

"The name of Mr Hancock as an enterprising and discriminating employer of the best artistic talent obtainable has long been favourably known to us; but we think he has seldom been more fortunate than in obtaining the services of Signor Monti..." Illustrated London News, 31st May 1862

Hancocks & Co, were amongst the most renowned and illustrious Jewellers and silversmiths of the 19th century. The firm was founded by Charles Frederick Hancock in 1849. C.F. Hancock, a previous partner in the firm of Hunt & Roskell, opened his own shop at 39 Bruton Street obtaining soon after a Royal Warrant of Appointment from Queen Victoria. After being awarded the Royal Warrant in 1856, Hancocks were instructed to produce the Queen's new medal, the Victoria Cross. This is an honour upheld by the firm today. Hancock also exhibited at many of the important exhibitions of the 19th Century. At the Great Exhibition in London in 1851 they were awarded the Grand Council Medal. In 1867 Hancocks sent to Paris no less than 17 cases of stock where it remained for eight months. Here the firm triumphed winning several medals of excellence. The Vienna exhibition of 1873 saw them receive the Emperor's gold medal for science and art in addition to the allusive "Prize medal".

Raffaele Monti (1818-1881)

The revered sculptor Raffaele Monti (1818-1881) was born in Iseo, Ticino, Switzerland, of an Italian father, the sculptor Gaetano Matteo Monti (1776-1847) of Ravenna. Raffaele studied with his father, and under the sculptor Pompeo Marchesi at the Accademia de Belle Arti di Brera in Milan, which was then part of the Austrian Empire. His earliest successes were with two classically inspired groups: Alexander Training Bucephalus (now Galleria d'Arte Moderna, Milan), for which he was awarded the Imperial Academy's gold medal, and Ajax Defending the Body of Patroclus (exhibited 1838), which resulted in an invitation to Vienna where he made portrait busts of various members of the imperial family.

Monti returned to Milan in 1842, and in 1845 carved the figures of St Theodulus and St Tarbula for Milan Cathedral. In October 1846 he received a visit from William Spencer, 6th Duke of Devonshire, who commissioned from him a Veiled Vestal. Monti arrived in England with the completed statue in spring 1847; after a showing at Colnaghi's, in Pall Mall East, it was installed in the Duke's London villa, Chiswick House (the Duke's descendants relocating it to Chatsworth House in 1999). Relocating to London in 1848, by 1851 he had established his reputation with nine sculptures at the Great Exhibition. His female nude, Eve after the Fall, elicited positive reviews and a prize medal, but it was his Veiled Vestal (lent by the Duke) which attracted the most attention, the deft carving of the marble creating the appearance of a face partially glimpsed beneath a transparent veil.

Immediately after the close of the Great Exhibition, Monti was elected an associate of a new (and short-lived) venture, the Royal Panopticon of Science and Art, which opened in Leicester Square in 1854 (and closed in 1857). The Panopticon's council commissioned its own veiled figure, for permanent display within its building. Known variously as The Houriand The Peri, it has recently been identified by Gabriel Williams as the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Veiled Woman (signed and dated 1854) Pictured opposite bottom right.

In the same period, Monti won a major contract from the Crystal Palace Company, working on historical reconstructions within Sir Joseph Paxton's Great Exhibition building and creating original sculptures for the grounds of its new site at Sydenham.

The 1862 International Exhibition at South Kensington saw not only the culmination of his explorations into veiled-face effects with his The Sleep of Sorrow and the Dream of Joy (Victoria and Albert Museum), but also the first major example of his involvement in the applied arts: an elaborate silver group,The Poetry of Great Britain, designed and modelled by Monti but shown under the name of the manufacturer, C.F. Hancock. In addition to further work for Hancock, he also went on to design and model numerous Parian ware statuettes and busts for mass production by Copeland and by Wedgwood.

Monti produced many sculptural and trophy pieces For Hancocks, Notable works attributed to Monti for Hancocks include: The Poetry of Great Britain - 1862, The Ascot Gold Cup 1877, the Brighton Race Cup 1868, Goodwood Races: The Chesterfield Cup of 1866 and The Chesterfield Cup of 1868'.

August Belmont, the 1874 Belmont Stakes Trophy and the Vienna Exhibition 1873.

Thoroughbred racehorse owner and the founder and namesake of the Belmont Stakes, August Belmont Sr. (born Aaron
Schönberg; December 8, 1813- November 24, 1890) was a German-American financier, diplomat, and politician. He
served as Chair of the Democratic National Committee from 1860 to 1872. Due to Belmont's wealth, career and
European heritage he was a frequent traveller to the European continent.

The other known example of Monti's Buffalo Hunt is held in the collection of the Gilcrease American History and Art Museum in Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA (Accession No:08.158). Seemingly identical but executed entirely in Bronze (see opposite); it is mounted upon a marble plinth to which is applied a silver plaque which bears the Hallmarks of C F Hancock. The plaque is engraved: "Belmont stakes 1874 Presented by August Belmont President of the American Jockey Club, Won By Saxon June 13th 1874 Time 2.39 1/2."

The fashion to present allegorical sculptures as prizes was well established amongst the racing fraternity by 1874, coupled with the overtly traditional American subject of Monti's sculpture The Buffalo hunt would have surely appealed to the patrons and racehorse owners of the American east coast.

We learn from the English newspaper: American Register, London 28th June 1873 that August Belmont attended the 1873 Vienna exhibition where Hancock had their prize winning stand. In a section titled "The Vienna Exhibition - A letter from an inventor" it states:

"Mr August Belmont is here, and seems to be interested in the American department of the Exhibition"

Belmont seemingly spent several months in Europe, was joined by his family in June* and returned to New York in September^. There is no evidence to suggest Belmont travelled to London during this period so it is almost certain that he saw Monti's Silver & Bronze version at the Exhibition in Vienna and subsequently ordered the Bronze version to be used as the Belmont Stakes prize in 1874.

*The Sun, New York, Monday 23rd June 1873
^ The Boston Globe, Boston, Saturday 20th September 1873

The Inspiration: The Art Of George Caitlin
George Catlin (1796-1872) was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Following a brief career as a lawyer, he produced two major collections of paintings of Native Americans and published a series of books chronicling his travels among the native peoples of North, Central and South America. Claiming his interest in America's 'vanishing race' was sparked by a visiting American Indian delegation in Philadelphia, he set out to record the appearance and customs of America's native people.

Catlin began his journey in 1830 when he accompanied General William Clark on a diplomatic mission up the Mississippi River into Native American territory. St. Louis became Catlin's base of operations for five trips he took between 1830 and 1836, eventually visiting fifty tribes. Two years later he ascended the Missouri River over 3000 km to Ft Union, where he spent several weeks among indigenous people still relatively untouched by European civilization. He visited eighteen tribes, including the Pawnee, Omaha, and Ponca in the south and the Mandan, Cheyenne, Crow, Assiniboine, and Blackfeet to the north. There, at the edge of the frontier, he produced the most vivid and penetrating portraits of his career. Later trips along the Arkansas, Red and Mississippi rivers as well as visits to Florida and the Great Lakes resulted in over 500 paintings and a substantial collection of artefacts.

When Catlin returned east in 1838, he assembled these paintings and numerous artefacts into his Indian Gallery and began delivering public lectures which drew on his personal recollections of life among the American Indians. Catlin travelled with his Indian Gallery to major cities such as Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and New York. He hung his paintings "salon style" side by side and one above another to great effect. Visitors identified each painting by the number on the frame as listed in Catlin's catalogue. Soon afterwards he began a lifelong effort to sell his collection to the U.S. government. The touring Indian Gallery did not attract the paying public Catlin needed to stay financially sound, and Congress rejected his initial petition to purchase the works, so in 1839 Catlin took his collection across the Atlantic for a tour of European capitals.

Catlin the showman and entrepreneur initially attracted crowds to his Indian Gallery in London, Brussels, and Paris. The French critic Charles Baudelaire remarked on Catlin's paintings, "M. Catlin has captured the proud, free character and noble expression of these splendid fellows in a masterly way."

The subject matter of the Buffalo Hunt is unprecedented in Monti's known catalogue of works and there is no evidence to suggest that Monti travelled to observe the Native Americans in person. It is certain that Monti would have had to rely upon the artworks of his contemporaries for inspiration. Catlins work was well known in Europe and the the detail on display in Catlin's paintings is reflected in the execution of Monti's sculpture.

Sir Harry Stephen Meysey-Thompson Bart

Following the end of the Vienna Exhibition in late 1873, it is presumed that the silver Buffalo Hunt sculpture returned to London and was put on display at Hancocks showrooms at 38 & 39 Bruton Street and/or 152 New Bond Street. Subsequently It appears to have been purchased as part of a presentation service of silver with a total value of £2,700. Together with it's companion pieces, it is described in an article published in the Railway News on the 19th of August 1874: "Indian hunting the Buffalo. The Indian is on Horseback, in the act of spearing the buffalo."
The service was intended to be presented to Sir Harry Stephen Meysey-Thompson, 1st Baronet (1809-1874), pictured above, in recognition of his service as Chairman of The North Eastern Railway upon his retirement. Sir Harry did not live to receive the gift and so it was presented to his son; Sir Henry Meysey Thompson Bart 1st Baron Knaresborough in his stead. The Family home was at Kirby Hall in the County of York where the Buffalo Hunt as presumably housed.