Spearing by Moonlight - Chaco
1854/1869
Medium
oil on card mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 47 x 62 cm (18 1/2 x 24 7/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CAB
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Paul Mellon Collection
Accession Number
1965.16.277
Art Historical Context
George Catlin’s "Spearing by Moonlight Chaco," painted between 1854 and 1869, captures a nocturnal hunting scene rendered in oil on card mounted on paperboard. Measuring roughly 47 by 62 centimeters, the work’s portable support reflects the practical needs of an artist who extensively to record Indigenous life firsthand. Catlin, best known for his extensive documentation of Native American cultures, here turns his attention to the Chaco region, likely during his later South American journeys. The painting belongs to Catlin’s broader effort to preserve visual records of traditional practices t...
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 ...