Picturesque Bluffs above Prairie du Chien

George Catlin, Picturesque Bluffs above Prairie du Chien, 1835-1836, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.317
Copied George Catlin, Picturesque Bluffs above Prairie du Chien, 1835-1836, oil on canvas, 19 5827 12 in. (49.770.0 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.317
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Artwork Details

Title
Picturesque Bluffs above Prairie du Chien
Date
1835-1836
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
19 5827 12 in. (49.770.0 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Figure group — male
  • Landscape — river
  • Western
  • Indian
  • Travel — water — canoe
  • Landscape — Wisconsin — Prairie du Chien
Object Number
1985.66.317

Artwork Description

In addition to portraits of Native Americans, George Catlin captured images of the western landscape, and recorded his responses to the West’s remarkable beauty in his travel account Letters and Notes. “There is a something that fills and feeds the mind of an enthusiastic man,” Catlin wrote, “when he is thrown upon natural resources, amidst the rude untouched scenes of nature, which cannot be described; and I leave the world to imagine the feelings of pleasure with which I found myself again out of the din of artful life, among scenes of grandeur worthy the whole soul’s devotion, and admiration.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 52, 1841; reprint 1973)