Of Native American (Ojibwe) and African American ancestry, Lewis studied at Oberlin College and apprenticed with a sculptor in Boston before relocating to Rome in 1866. Her most popular works were Native American subjects, readily purchased by patrons on both sides of the Atlantic. <em>Indian Combat</em>, a spiraling composition with three intertwined figures, ranks as her most dynamic and complex creation. Although Lewis’s Native American subjects typically exist in multiple versions, this example appears to be unique.