The Trial of Red Jacket

John Mix Stanley, The Trial of Red Jacket, 1869, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George M. Stanley (grandson of the artist) and family and museum purchase , 1990.34
Copied John Mix Stanley, The Trial of Red Jacket, 1869, oil on canvas, 23 1⁄2 x 36 1⁄8 in. (59.7 x 91.7 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of George M. Stanley (grandson of the artist) and family and museum purchase , 1990.34
Free to use

Artwork Details

Title
The Trial of Red Jacket
Artist
Date
1869
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
23 1⁄2 x 36 1⁄8 in. (59.7 x 91.7 cm.)
Credit Line
Gift of George M. Stanley (grandson of the artist) and family and museum purchase 
Mediums
Mediums Description
oil on canvas
Classifications
Subjects
  • Occupation — education — orator
  • Occupation — other — chief
  • History — United States — Trial of Red Jacket
  • Portrait male — RED JACKET
  • Indian — Seneca
  • Figure group
Object Number
1990.34
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1990.34

Artwork Description

Red Jacket (1758-1830) was a famous leader of the Seneca tribe of the Iroquois Nation. In this ambitious painting, John Mix Stanley showed the chief defending himself against a charge of witchcraft. Under his white robe is the red jacket given to him by a British officer for his help as a messenger during the American Revolution. Stanley trained as a portrait painter, and all of the figures in this work are portraits of identifiable individuals. The Trial of Red Jacket was almost destroyed in the Smithsonian Institution's fire of 1865. (Antiques, November 1990; Javiga da Costa Nunes, "Red Jacket: The Man and his Portraits," The American Art Journal, Summer 1980)