"She Claims The Rockshelter"

The painting “She Claims the Rockshelter” depicts a typical scene that could have occurred near the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in southwestern Pennsylvania in the late 18th century. Archeological evidence uncovered in a nearby Rockshelter indicates that man has inhabited the area for at least sixteen thousand years. Black bears were extremely numerous on the North American continent before the arrival of Europeans with their firearms and gunpowder, and confrontations between bears and Native Americans were truly life threatening experiences. Gunpowder finally gave the humans a distinct advantage over the bears, but they still respected the huge creatures. Meshach Browning, recounting his many adventures as a hunter in the latter part of the 18th century and early 19th century in his autobiography, Forty-Four Years of the Life of a Hunter, claimed to have killed 300 to 400 bears. His opinion of the bear was: “It is a bold, undaunted beast, though not apt to pick quarrels with other animals; but if any others trespass on its’ rights, it then becomes furious and vindictive. I love and admire the bear, because it desires to insult neither man nor beast, nor will it suffer any to insult it.”

Available As A Limited Edition Canvas Print
Ten In The Issue
Size - 20" x 24"     Framed Price - $440.00     Unframed Price - $250.00