Artwork
La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land. March 25, 1682
La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land. March 25, 1682 is an oil painting by the Romanticist artist George Catlin. It dates from 1848 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
- Inscription
- Inscribed:lower left: G. Catlin. p.
About this work
Technique & Style
Executed in a realist style, the composition emphasizes narrative clarity and precise brushwork to document the claimed act of territorial possession.
George Catlin painted La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land in 1848 using oil on canvas, a medium and support typical of his history-painting practice. The work measures 37.4 cm in height and 56.7 cm in width, a conventional canvas format for the period. Executed in a realist style, the composition emphasizes narrative clarity and precise brushwork to document the claimed act of territorial possession. It is now held by the National Gallery of Art.
History & Provenance
The painting La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land. March 25, 1682 was created by George Catlin in 1848 as an oil on canvas measuring 37.4 cm in height and 56.7 cm in width.
Its ownership chain begins with the artist himself. By descent, it passed to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin, before being purchased in 1912 by the American Museum of Natural History from Elizabeth Wing Catlin. The work was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon, who gifted it to the National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C.) in 1965, where it remains in the collection. The sources do not document any exhibition history beyond this chain of ownership.
Overview
George Catlin’s oil on canvas, La Salle Erecting a Cross and Taking Possession of the Land (1848), portrays the French explorer René Rochambeau de La Salle planting a cross on the banks of the Mississippi in 1682. The composition centers on a solitary figure raising the cross, surrounded by a small group of onlookers against a detailed shoreline.
Subject & Meaning
The work records a moment of colonial claim‑making, illustrating how European explorers marked newly encountered territories with religious symbols. By focusing on the act of planting the cross, Catlin emphasizes the intertwining of conquest, faith, and the assertion of sovereignty over the North American interior.
Context
Created in the mid‑nineteenth century, the painting aligns with a broader American fascination with early colonial narratives. It serves as a visual complement to contemporary writings that sought to legitimize the nation’s territorial origins through depictions of seminal exploratory events.
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Artist & collection
Artist
George Catlin ( KAT-lin; July 26, 1796 – December 23, 1872) was an American lawyer, painter, author, and traveler, who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the American frontier.
Bulls Fighting
Expedition Encamped on a Texas Prairie. April 1686
An Alligator's Nest
Mrs. George Catlin (Clara Bartlet Gregory)- Chief of the Taensa Indians Receiving La Salle. March 20, 1682
A Small Village - Payaguas Indians
Omaha Chief, His Wife, and a Warrior
Father Hennepin Leaving the Mississippi to Join La Salle. May 8, 1680
La Salle Taking Possession of the Land at the Mouth of the Arkansas. March 10, 1682
La Salle Received in the Village of the Cenis Indians. May 6, 1686
La Salle Claiming Louisiana for France. April 9, 1682
La Salle and Party Arrive at the Village of the Illinois. January 1, 1680
La Salle Assassinated by Duhaut. May 19, 1686
La Salle Meets a War Party of Cenis Indians on a Texas Prairie. April 25, 1686
La Salle Driving the First Bolt for the Griffin. January 26, 1679