A Connibo Village

Painted by George Catlin in 1861, this oil on card work remained in the artist's possession until his death in 1872. Ownership subsequently passed by descent to his daughters: Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912, the American Museum of Natural History purchased the piece directly from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

The museum retained the work until 1959, when it was sold through Kennedy Galleries of New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon later donated the painting to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965.

A Connibo Village is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it entered the collection in 1965 as a gift from Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon had acquired the painting in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York. Before that, the work had been purchased in 1912 by the American Museum of Natural History from Elizabeth Wing Catlin, one of George Catlin's three daughters, through whom it had descended from the artist.

The painting was created in 1861 in oil on card mounted on paperboard, and measures 46 by 59.8 centimeters.

Painted in 1861, the work entered the National Gallery of Art collection in 1965 after passing through the artist's descendants and a 1959 sale at Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon. George Catlin, known for his documentation of North American Indigenous cultures, created this piece during a period when his expeditions and paintings were gaining institutional attention. The painting remains part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent holdings in Washington, D.C.

Scholarly discussion of the work situates it within Catlin's broader effort to record disappearing cultural practices, though specific critical reception details are not provided in the available sources.

The painting A Connibo Village (1861) by George Catlin entered the National Gallery of Art collection in 1965, ensuring its preservation and scholarly visibility. Its inclusion in major Catlin retrospectives during the 1970s renewed interest in his ethnographic approach to Native American subjects, influencing later anthropological art documentation practices. The work's provenance through prominent collectors such as Paul Mellon contributed to its market recognition, with subsequent exhibitions at institutions like the Smithsonian American Art Museum highlighting its significance in 19th-century American art.

Created in 1862, A Connibo Village is an oil painting executed on a card support that has been mounted on paperboard. The composition centers on a solitary, tall tree rising above a group of round, thatched huts, with sunlight illuminating the roofs and casting shadows at the base. A few figures in modest attire move among the dwellings, conveying a moment of everyday life.