Short Fiction · Chapter
Art and the Bronco explained
Lonny Briscoe, a cowboy artist from the San Saba country, paints a large Western scene that becomes a sensation at the state Capitol.
What happens
Lonny Briscoe, a cowboy artist from the San Saba country, paints a large Western scene that becomes a sensation at the state Capitol. Senator Kinney champions a bill to purchase the painting for two thousand dollars, praising the Briscoe family legacy. After the bill passes the Senate, Lonny and his cowpuncher friends ride into the Capitol, and his horse Hot Tamales tears through the canvas, mistaking the painted steer for a real one. Lonny then renounces the appropriation, declaring the Briscoes do not take gifts from the state, and rides away with his gang, ultimately giving up his art aspirations.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Appearance vs. Reality
The painting is praised as a masterpiece by politicians and cowpunchers, but its artistic flaws are overlooked; the horse mistakes the painted steer for a real one, revealing the illusion.
Ambition and Failure
Lonny Briscoe's artistic ambition culminates in the destruction of his painting and his renunciation of art, symbolizing the failure of his aspirations.
Humor and Irony
The horse's literal interpretation of the painting and the cowpunchers' comedic antics provide humor, while the irony of the state nearly buying a flawed artwork is evident.
Characters to notice
- Unknown Narrator
Narrates the story of Lonny Briscoe, the painting, and the legislative events.
- The Colonel
Senator Kinney, the picture's champion and sponsor, delivers a speech praising the Briscoe legacy.
- The General
Senator Mullens, representing the San Saba country, introduces the bill to purchase the painting.
Key passages
“Out of the wilderness had come a painter. Genius, whose coronations alone are democratic, had woven a chaplet of chaparral for the brow of Lonny Briscoe.”
A painter emerged from the wild, and genius, which crowns people regardless of their background, had honored Lonny Briscoe with a wreath made of brush.
Introduces Lonny Briscoe as a naturally gifted artist from a rugged region.
“You was the only one, Tamales, what seen anything in it. It did look like a steer, didn’t it, old hoss?”
You were the only one who saw anything in the painting, Tamales. It really did look like a steer, didn't it, old horse?
Lonny's final, regretful acknowledgment that only his horse appreciated the painting's realism.