St. Louis from the River Below

George Catlin, St. Louis from the River Below, 1832-1833, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.311
Copied George Catlin, St. Louis from the River Below, 1832-1833, oil on canvas, 19 3826 34 in. (49.268.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.311
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Artwork Details

Title
St. Louis from the River Below
Date
1832-1833
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
19 3826 34 in. (49.268.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Keywords
  • Waterscape — boat
  • Western
  • Landscape — river — Missouri River
  • Cityscape — Missouri — St. Louis
Object Number
1985.66.311

Artwork Description

“St. Louis . . . is a flourishing town, of 15,000 inhabitants, and destined to be the great emporium of the West . . . [It] is the great depot of all the Fur Trading Companies to the Upper Missouri and Rocky Mountains, and their starting-place; and also for the Santa Fe, and other Trading Companies, who reach the Mexican borders overland, to trade for silver bullion, from the extensive mines of that rich country . . . I have also made it my starting-point, and place of deposit, to which I send from different quarters, my packages of paintings and Indian articles, minerals, fossils, &c., as I collect them in various regions, here to be stored till my return; and where on my last return, if I ever make it, I shall hustle them altogether, and remove them to the East.” George Catlin probably painted this image in St. Louis in 1832. It is one of the two earliest views of the city, according to Mississippi Panorama, and it ranks with the Niagara Falls series as George Catlin's most detailed landscape. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 35, 1841, reprint 1973; Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)