# Portrait of a Woman

- By: George Catlin (born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872)
- Date: ca. 1825-1830
- Medium: oil on canvas
- Classification: Paintings
- Dimensions: 19 7/8 x 14 in. (50.5 x 35.6 cm.)
- Credit line: Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. David C. Morse
- Museum: [Smithsonian Institution](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=4321)
- Rights: [CC0 (Smithsonian Open Access)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/web/ca306847d4e415255a003fd1d6b69491.jpg
- Who can see it: Tweens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

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.