Dying Buffalo Bull in a Snowdrift
1837-1839
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
1985.66.423
Tags
About this artwork
Winter buffalo hunts brought income from white traders and warm clothing provided by the animalsâ luxuriant winter coats. In this dramatic image, George Catlin captured the hazards of hunting in ice and snow, depicting both hunter and prey as they lay dying in the winter landscape.
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 ...