Bride and Groom on Horseback - Connibo

George Catlin painted Bride and Groom on Horseback - Connibo in 1861, using oil on card mounted on paperboard. The work descended through the artist’s daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney and Elizabeth Wing Catlin before being sold in 1912 to the American Museum of Natural History. In 1959 it passed via Kennedy Galleries, New York, to Paul Mellon, who later gifted the painting to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.

The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., now holds the piece, as recorded in its collection data. The painting measures 46.6 cm by 61.8 cm and was created in 1861.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it is accessioned as 1965.1.10.

Its ownership history includes George Catlin, who created the work in 1861. By descent it passed to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1912 the American Museum of Natural History purchased it from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

It was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon, Upperville, Virginia, and in 1965 Mellon gifted it to the National Gallery of Art.

Painted in 1861, the work shows a bride and groom from the Connibo people mounted on horseback, illustrating George Catlin’s documentation of indigenous ceremonial life.

It is classified as an equestrian portrait within Catlin’s broader portraiture of Native American subjects, a genre that scholars associate with his ethnographic mission.

The canvas entered the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., after a documented chain of ownership that began with the artist and culminated in a 1965 gift, reflecting its acceptance by a premier cultural institution.

Its inclusion in major exhibitions and academic catalogues affirms its significance in 19th‑century American art.

George Catlin's "Bride and Groom on Horseback - Connibo," created in 1854, is an oil painting on card, subsequently mounted on paperboard. This work presents a genre scene featuring a couple on horseback beneath a tree. While Catlin is widely recognized for his extensive visual documentation of Native American life on the American frontier, this particular painting represents a departure in subject matter from his more typical ethnographic studies.

The artwork depicts a man and a woman riding horses together under a tree. The male figure is shown in a white shirt, while the female wears a dark dress complemented by a red shawl. This intimate portrayal of a couple, possibly a bridal pair as suggested by the title, offers a personal narrative that contrasts with Catlin's broader focus on cultural and ceremonial scenes of Indigenous peoples.