GEORGE CALEB BINGHAM (1850-51). PAINTINGS SUCH AS

BINGHAM'S "DANIEL BOONE ESCORTING SETTLERS THROUGH THE CUMBERLAND

GAP," PAINTED 1850-51 WERE PURCHASED, EXHIBITED, AND DISTRIBUTED,

OFTEN VIA LITHOGRAPH, TO THE PUBLIC BY SUCH SOCIETEIES AS THE NEW

YORK AMERICAN ART UNION OR THE CENTURY CLUB, SUPPORTED BY WEALTHY

EASTERN PATRONS. AS SUCH THEY FORMED PART OF THE PROPAGANDA OF

MANIFEST DESTINY. BINGHAM'S DANIEL BOONE LEADS HIS PEOPLE, LIKE

A LATTER DAY MOSES, THRU HOSTILE TERRAIN INTO THE PROMISED LAND.

THE WOMAN ON THE WHITE HORSE SYMBOLIZES THE GENTLE, CIVILIZING

INFLUENCE NECESSARY TO DEVELOP FRONTIER CULTURE, AND SHE IS, OF

COURSE, WITH THE YOUNG BOY AND OTHER WOMAN BEHIND HER, PART OF

THE ANGLO-AMERICAN REPRODUCTION MACHINE. THE PIONEERS HAVE THEIR

2

"PORTMANTEAU BIOTA"--THE HORSE AND THE DOG, PART OF THEIR FREIGHT

OF LIVESTOCK THAT WILL TRANSFORM THE TERRAIN THE ROCKS AND TREES

PART LIKE THE RED SEA AND SHINES ON THEIR ADVANCE AND THE

SUPERNATURAL LIGHTING REMINDS US OF THE LORD WHO WITH A PILLAR OF

CLOUD BY DAY, A PILLAR OF FIRE BY NIGHT, LED THE ISRAELITES INTO

THE LAND OF CANAAN.

Reference: Patricia Hills, "Picturing Progress in the Era of

Westward Expansion," THE WEST AS AMERICA: REINTERPRETING IMAGTES

OF THE FRONTIER, 1820-1920, Washington and London: Smithsonian

Institution Press, 1991, p. 114.