Ostrich Chase, Buenos Aires - Auca
1854/1869
Medium
oil on card mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 47.3 x 65.8 cm (18 5/8 x 25 7/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Paul Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1965.16.257
Art Historical Context
George Catlin's *Ostrich Chase, Buenos Aires Auca* (1854/1869) captures a dynamic moment of pursuit on the South American pampas, where riders chase ostriches amid the vast landscapes near Buenos Aires. Rendered in oil on card on paperboard—a portable medium ideal for Catlin's extensive travels—this 47.3 x 65.8 cm painting showcases his keen eye for action and ethnography. The intimate scale and support suggest it may have been a field study, blending spontaneity with meticulous detail. Renowned for his portraits of Native American tribes in the United States during the 1830s, Catlin expanded...
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 ...