Artwork
Mired Buffalo and Wolves
Mired Buffalo and Wolves is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist George Catlin. It dates from 1865 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.
About this work
Technique & Style
The surface exhibits craquelure consistent with age and handling, though no major structural damage or pigment loss has been documented in available records.
Mired Buffalo and Wolves is an oil painting created by George Catlin in 1861. The work is executed in oil on card that is mounted on paperboard, a support commonly used for small-format paintings during the mid-19th century. The painting measures 46.2 cm in height by 62.9 cm in width, as recorded in the National Gallery of Art’s collection data.
Its composition features a dense woodland scene with buffalo and wolves, rendered with loose brushwork and atmospheric perspective characteristic of Catlin’s later landscape style. The surface exhibits craquelure consistent with age and handling, though no major structural damage or pigment loss has been documented in available records.
History & Provenance
Mired Buffalo and Wolves is an 1861 oil on card painting by George Catlin. The work entered the artist's family after its creation, passing by descent to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin. It was purchased in 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History and later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia.
In 1965 the painting was gifted to the National Gallery of Art, where it remains in the collection today.
Mired Buffalo and Wolves is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Its provenance traces from George Catlin to his daughters Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin, passing by descent within the family. The American Museum of Natural History purchased the work in 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin. In 1959 it was sold through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia, who gave it to the National Gallery of Art in 1965.
No exhibition history is documented in the available sources.
Context
George Catlin painted Mired Buffalo and Wolves in 1861 as an oil on card mounted on paperboard landscape. The work entered the National Gallery of Art's collection in 1965 after passing through the artist's daughters and a 1959 sale by Kennedy Galleries to Paul Mellon. Critical scholarship situates this painting within Catlin's broader documentation of North American landscapes, reflecting his ethnographic and environmental interests during the mid-19th century.
Overview
Created in 1865, Mired Buffalo and Wolves is an oil painting executed on card that has been mounted to a paperboard support. The work belongs to George Catlin’s series of frontier landscapes, a genre he pursued alongside his extensive visual records of Native American peoples. The composition presents a wintry tableau in which a solitary tree stands amid a scene of buffalo and wolves.
Subject & Meaning
The image captures a stark encounter between herd animals and predators against a snow‑covered ground, suggesting the relentless struggle for survival on the North American plains. By placing the buffalo and wolves together, Catlin underscores the natural cycle of life and death, while the lone tree serves as a quiet witness to the harsh environment.
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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
Driving the Pampas for Wild Cattle - Connibo
After the Buffalo Chase - Sioux
Tawahquena Village
Catlin and Two Companions Shooting Buffalo
Camanchees Moving
Cedar Bluffs
Wild Cattle Grazing on the Pampa del Sacramento
The Cheyenne Brothers Returning from Their Fall Hunt
Pawnee Indians Approaching Buffalo
Connibos Starting for Wild Horses- A Sioux Village