Chromolithograph advertisement, 19.5 x 33 in., mounted on linen, 22 x 35 in. After Frank Earle Schoonover (1877-1972), Tex and Patches, Colt Patent Fire Arms Manufacturing Company, 1926. Cowboy Tex Randerson sits upon his trusty steed Patches, an image emblematic of the American West, highly appropriate for the manufacturer’s of the so-called “Gun that Won the West.” The advertisement reproduces Schoonover’s iconic 1925 painting Tex and Patches (catalogue raisonné 1419) reworked for Colt from the earlier, Randerson on Patches (733). Schoonover charmingly described his subjects, “Patches was probably the best and the most unpretentious cayuse in the cow country. He was ewe-necked and raw-boned but almost human when it was necessary to find a trail or get to camp on a black night. Tex and Patches just naturally made pictures when they were together, and it was always pretty fine to see them up on some little butte – horse and rider outlined against the sky.” The image was used by Colt in both English posters and the now scarce Spanish language advertisements, as offered here.