Bread, Chief of the Tribe
1831
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
1985.66.270
Tags
About this artwork
George Catlin probably painted this image of the Oneida chief Bread in Washington, D.C. in 1831. The artist found his subject to be âa shrewd and talented man, well educated---speaking good English---[he] is handsome, and a polite and gentlemanly man in his deportment.â Catlin also described Bread as âhalf-blood.â The artist apparently devoted some time to painting Bread, as the portrait is one of the most perceptive and carefully finished of the period. (Truettner, The Natural Man Obser...
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 ...