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Show foreground figure, totems, and grass are stabilized before a distant background which gives a sense of the vastness of the Plains. This vastness, coupled with the scattered, lonely scaffold graves, the buffalo skull, the strange totems, and the stoic figure in the foreground, all placed under a bleak winter sky, evokes a sense of isolation, stillness, and wonder at such strange beliefs and customs. Yet however romantic the image, it is a straightforward work with no gratuitous artistic embellishments. Based upon the numerous sketches Bodmer made of this area immediately surrounding Fort Clark, descriptions in Maximilian's journal, and the topography of North Dakota, this watercolor is an ethnological document, artistically presented, but accurate in content. It is useful to examine the changes that took place as this watercolor was reproduced for the travelbook. Tableau 25, Offerings of the Mandan Indians. was one of the first to be copied into aquatint, and was included in the third issue to subscribers. The first state of this print was executed by Charles Vogel, one of the best and earliest etchers Bodmer employed in his studio. Vogel worked on nine of the plates for Travels in all; six of these were heavily reworked with the etching needle in their later states.^ Travels was first published in German by Jacob Holscher in Coblenz. Prints included in the early issues of this German edition were produced with only the upper inscriptions and the German and French titles. As negotiations with the Parisian and London publishers of Travels went forward, English titles and the names of the three publishers, Jacob Holscher, Arthus Bertrand, and Ackermann & Company, were added. The first state of Tableau 25 lacks the |