Artwork
Mississippi Boatman
Mississippi Boatman is an oil painting by the Hudson River School artist George Caleb Bingham. It dates from 1850 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: G.C. Bingham / 1850
About this work
Technique & Style
George Caleb Bingham's Mississippi Boatman, executed in 1850, is an oil painting on canvas support.
George Caleb Bingham's Mississippi Boatman, executed in 1850, is an oil painting on canvas support. The work measures 61.3 cm in height and 43.7 cm in width. As a mid-19th-century American genre painting, it employs the oil medium to depict its subject with the characteristic handling associated with Bingham's style during this period.
The painting was originally listed for sale by the Art Union of Philadelphia in 1851, indicating its circulation as a finished, framed object shortly after its creation.
History & Provenance
George Caleb Bingham painted Mississippi Boatman in 1850 as an oil on canvas work. It entered the Art Union of Philadelphia in 1851, where it was listed for sale at $60. The painting was later acquired by B.R. Leviss in the 1940s while he was in Rhode Island, then purchased from Vose Galleries in Boston.
In 1965 it was sold to John Wilmerding of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in 2004 it was gifted to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
The work is part of the National Gallery of Art's collection, confirming its current location and institutional provenance.
The painting Mississippi Boatman is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum's holdings in 2004 as a gift from John Wilmerding, who had acquired the work in 1965. Prior to its acquisition by Wilmerding, the canvas was discovered in Rhode Island during the 1940s by B.R. Leviss of Fall River, Massachusetts, and was previously associated with Vose Galleries in Boston.
Historical records indicate the work was originally listed for sale by the Art Union of Philadelphia in 1851 with an asking price of $60. While the source material details this extensive provenance chain from 1851 to the present, it does not document specific exhibition histories for the piece.
Overview
George Caleb Bingham’s 1850 oil on canvas, titled Mississippi Boatman, portrays a solitary figure perched on a wooden crate. The man, dressed in a red hat and yellow shirt, holds a pipe in his right hand while his left arm leans against a barrel, set against a backdrop of trees beneath a clear blue sky.
Subject & Meaning
The composition captures a moment of quiet labor along the Mississippi River, emphasizing the everyday existence of river workers. The rustic clothing and the presence of barrels suggest a working environment tied to river commerce, inviting viewers to consider the modest lives that sustained regional trade.
Context
During the 1850s, American artists increasingly turned to scenes of ordinary labor and landscape, moving away from grand historical subjects. Bingham’s focus on a solitary boatman parallels the broader Realist tendency to document the nation’s expanding frontier and its inhabitants.
Own this work as a print
Artist & collection
Artist
George Caleb Bingham (March 20, 1811 – July 7, 1879) is recognized as one of the most important American artists of the 19th century.
