Pes-Ke-Le-Cha-Co
1832–33
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
30 × 25 in. (76.2 × 63.5 cm)
Classification
Painting
Culture
American
Department
The American Wing
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Gerald and Kathleen Peters, in celebration of the Museum's 150th Anniversary, 2018
Accession Number
2018.501.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
**Pes-Ke-Le-Cha-Co** is a striking oil-on-canvas portrait by Henry Inman, painted 1832 and 1833. Measuring 30 × 25 inches, this work captures a Native American man named Pese-Le-Cha-Co, likely a leader from a Plains tribe, rendered with Inman's signature precision. As a leading New York portraitist of his era, Inman specialized in formal likenesses that brought dignity to his subjects, often drawing from life studies or collections documenting Indigenous peoples during a turbulent period in American history. Created amid President Andrew Jackson's Indian Removal policies, the painting reflect...
About the Artist
Henry Inman · 1801–1846
Comment on works: Portraits