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Prairie on Fire

Charles Deas

American Art

Prairie Fire takes the classic damsel-in-distress story line and transports it to the American West. Panicked horses and frantic riders race through a prairie as a fire rages in the background. In choosing this setting, Charles Deas drew on popular imagery in nineteenth-century visual art and literature, including James Fenimore Cooper’s novel The Prairie.
MEDIUM Oil on canvas
DATES 1847
DIMENSIONS 28 3/4 x 35 15/16 in. (73 x 91.3 cm) frame: 38 1/2 × 45 3/8 × 5 in. (97.8 × 115.3 × 12.7 cm)  (show scale)
SIGNATURE Signed lower right: "1847. / C Deas."
COLLECTIONS American Art
ACCESSION NUMBER 48.195
CREDIT LINE Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, the Guennol Collection
MUSEUM LOCATION This item is not on view
CAPTION Charles Deas (American, 1818–1867). Prairie on Fire, 1847. Oil on canvas, 28 3/4 x 35 15/16 in. (73 x 91.3 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Alastair B. Martin, the Guennol Collection, 48.195 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 48.195_SL1.jpg)
IMAGE overall, 48.195_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
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