View in the "Cross Timbers," Texas
1832 or 1834-1835
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
1985.66.362
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin traveled widely throughout the frontier, but never crossed into Texas, as the title of this painting implies. âCross Timbersâ probably refers to a location in Comanche Territory, where the artist journeyed in 1834. The conformation of the bald hills resembles Catlin's earlier views of the Upper Missouri, and the painting is of the same small size as the other landscapes in that series. (Truettner, The Natural Man Observed, 1979)
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 ...