Alfred E. Mathews

After serving as a soldier and artist with the Ohio Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War, Alfred E. Mathews headed west. With Denver as home base, he explored and drew Rocky Mountain scenery in Colorado, Wyoming and Montana. Along with "Pencil Sketches of Colorado" and "Gems of Rocky Mountain Scenery," Mathews' Montana scenes ("Pencil Sketches of Montana") are now "one of the most sought after items of Western Americana," according to Taft. From a pictorial standpoint, Taft calls him the most important of the artists who headed west after the war. Streeter calls his "views of the Montana frontier the best of the period." [Taft, "Artists and Illustrators," chap. 5. Streeter 2230. Howes, "U.S.iana," M414].