Ah-tón-we-tuck, Cock Turkey, Repeating His Prayer
1830
Medium
Painting
Classification
Painting
Department
Smithsonian Collection
Museum
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Credit
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.
Accession Number
1985.66.241
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin described Cock Turkey as “another Kickapoo of some distinction, and a disciple of the Prophet; in the attitude of prayer also, which he is reading off from characters cut upon a stick that he holds in his hands.” Ah-tón-we-tuck’s prayer stick was used for twice-daily recitations of a prayer adapted from the teachings of a Methodist missionary. The artist probably painted this portrait at Fort Leavenworth (in today’s Kansas) in 1830. (Catlin, <i>Letters and Notes</i>, vol. 2, no. 47...
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 ...