Landscape Background

About this artwork

“The landscape scenes of these wild and beautiful regions, are, of themselves, a rich reward for the traveler.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 37, 1841; reprint 1973)

Art Historical Context

George Catlin, a pioneering 19th-century American, captured the untamed beauty of the American through his paintings, often during his extensive travels among Native American tribes in the 0s. Created between 1846 and 1848, *Landscape Background* exemplifies his fascination with the dramatic vistas of the frontier. As a standalone landscape painting in oil—housed in the Smithsonian American Art Museum—this work likely served as a backdrop to highlight the majestic wilderness, reflecting Catlin's Romantic style that emphasized nature's sublime power and the fleeting purity of the West before wi...

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 ...