Funeral of Black Hawk - Saukie

George Catlin executed this oil on card mounted on paperboard in 1861. Upon the artist's death in 1872, the work 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 painting directly from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

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

The painting Funeral of Black Hawk - Saukie by George Catlin is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It was acquired by the museum in 1965 as a gift from Paul Mellon, following its purchase in 1959 from Kennedy Galleries, New York, by Paul Mellon. Prior to this, it descended through the artist's family and was sold by Elizabeth Wing Catlin in 1912 to the American Museum of Natural History. The work measures 46.2 cm in height and 60.7 cm in width and was created in 1861.

The painting’s legacy is anchored by its continued scholarly attention and institutional presence. It entered the National Gallery of Art collection in 1965 through the gift of Paul Mellon, ensuring its preservation and public access. The work’s historical subject matter and Catlin’s documentation of Native American life have contributed to ongoing discussions about 19th-century American art and ethnographic representation, though specific later exhibitions or critical appraisals are not detailed in the provided sources.

George Catlin’s 1865 work Funeral of Black Hawk – Saukie is an oil painting executed on card that has been affixed to a paperboard support. Classified as a history painting, it records a ceremonial scene associated with the death of the Sauk leader Black Hawk. The composition is dominated by a solitary, upright tree set against a flattened horizon, around which a gathered crowd encircles a wrapped body.