View on the Upper Mississippi, Beautiful Prairie Bluffs

George Catlin, View on the Upper Mississippi, Beautiful Prairie Bluffs, 1835-1836, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.312
Copied George Catlin, View on the Upper Mississippi, Beautiful Prairie Bluffs, 1835-1836, oil on canvas, 19 5⁄8 x 27 5⁄8 in. (49.8 x 70.1 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr., 1985.66.312
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
View on the Upper Mississippi, Beautiful Prairie Bluffs
Artist
Date
1835-1836
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
19 5⁄8 x 27 5⁄8 in. (49.8 x 70.1 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — river — Mississippi River
  • Western
Object Number
1985.66.312
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.66.312

Artwork Description

George Catlin probably sketched most of the Upper Mississippi River landscapes on his canoe trip from the Falls of St. Anthony to Dubuque in 1835. He mentions frequently that he used pencil and paper to record certain views, and a sketchbook now owned by the Smithsonian American Art Museum must have been one that he was carrying at the time. Several consecutive pages of pencil drawings in the SAAM sketchbook are of towns, forts, and scenery observed along the river that reappear, in somewhat modified form, in Upper Mississippi paintings. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)