A Lagoon of the Upper Amazon
1854/1869
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 46.5 x 60.1 cm (18 5/16 x 23 11/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Paul Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1965.16.288
Art Historical Context
George Catlin's *A Lagoon of the Upper* (1854/1869) transports viewers to the lush, untamed wilderness of South America. Renowned for his pioneering portraits of Native American tribes in the United States during the 1830s, Catlin later embarked on expeditions to the Amazon region in the 1850s. This oil on canvas captures a tranquil lagoon in the Upper Amazon, likely drawn from his firsthand observations during those journeys, reflecting his lifelong passion for documenting indigenous cultures and remote landscapes before modernization encroached. Painted in a realistic style characteristic o...
About the Artist
George Catlin · 1796–1872
George Catlin (1796–1872), born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, to Putnam Catlin and Polly Sutton—who had been captured by Native Americans during the 1778 Battle of Wyoming—initially pursued a legal career. Trained at Litchfield Law School, he was admitted to the bar in 1819 but abandoned law after two years to study art in Philadelphia in 1823. Self-taught as a portraitist, Catlin quickly gained ...