La Salle Claiming Louisiana for France. April 9, 1682

La Salle Claiming Louisiana for France, April 9, 1682 was painted by George Catlin in 1848 in oil on canvas. The work originated in Catlin's own possession and remained with him until his death in 1872, after which it passed by descent to his three 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 later deaccessioned it in 1959, selling it through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon held the painting until 1965, when he gave it to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., where it is catalogued under accession number 1965.14.3 and remains in the collection.

Painted in 1848, George Catlin's La Salle Claiming Louisiana for France illustrates the 1682 French expedition that asserted territorial claims over the Mississippi Valley. The work entered the Catlin estate after his death, passed to his daughters, and was acquired by the American Museum of Natural History in 1912 before being sold to Paul Mellon in 1959 and gifted to the National Gallery of Art in 1965. Contemporary scholarship situates the canvas within Catlin's broader project of documenting American frontiers, linking his ethnographic interests to the genre of history painting.

As a history painting, it reflects nineteenth-century attempts to dramatize early colonial events, and its reception has been tied to assessments of Catlin's role in shaping an American visual narrative.

George Catlin’s 1848 oil on canvas, La Salle Claiming Louisiana for France – April 9, 1682, presents a staged historical tableau. Central to the composition is a 17th‑century figure standing beneath a tree, clutching a cloth‑bound pole, while distant onlookers observe. The work translates an 18th‑century colonial claim into a mid‑19th‑century genre painting.

The scene dramatizes René‑Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle’s formal assertion of French sovereignty over the Mississippi basin. By foregrounding the ceremonial planting of a staff, Catlin underscores the act of territorial proclamation, while the peripheral figures suggest the presence of indigenous witnesses to the European claim.