John Mix Stanley - The Healer's Last Rites 4.5" x 7"

John Mix Stanley (1814-1872)
The Healer's Last Rites

Oil on paper laid on board
Board: 4.5" x 7"
Frame: 9.75" x 12.5”

The enigma of the scene is foregrounded by the indistinct, impressionistic strokes, muddied color, and inexplicable light illuminating the strange drama. The three figures of the parenthetical title are set at perpetual odds against one another: the old, bearded, monk-like figure on the right walks away from the scene, enshrouded in a brown cloak, and wielding a shovel; the other man kneels, is more colorfully clad, and tends the woman while his bow is cast aside; the final figure is a woman, fully prostrate, open book near her hand, and depicted as a classical embodiment of purity with her white robes and laurels falling from her hair. In the corner the clouds break to reveal a patch of blue, but clear as it ought to be, it, too, is dark. Like the sky, the story is swathed in ambiguity.

Provenance:
Private Collection, New Jersey
Private Collection, Jackson Hole, Wyoming from above
Private Collection, Utah, from above