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Portrait of a Woman
George Catlin (born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872)
ca. 1825-1830
- Medium
- oil on canvas
- Classification
- Paintings
- Dimensions
- 19 7/8 x 14 in. (50.5 x 35.6 cm.)
- Museum
- Smithsonian Institution, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Painting and Sculpture
- Credit line
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David C. Morse
- Rights
- CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Smithsonian Institution
About this work
This woman may be George Catlin’s sister, Mary. In this portrait, she wears a decorative lace garment called a bertha and a colorful red shawl that help to soften her rather severe expression. Catlin had no formal training in portraiture, and the New York critic and painter William Dunlap labeled him “utterly incompetent.” Despite this unpromising beginning, Catlin went on to create his celebrated Indian Gallery, documenting the faces, personalities, and tribal rituals of Native Americans.
