Oneida Chief, His Sister, and a Missionary

George Catlin created the oil painting Oneida Chief, His Sister, and a Missionary in 1861. The work was executed on card mounted on paperboard. Following the artist's death in 1872, the painting passed by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

In 1912, the American Museum of Natural History acquired the piece from Elizabeth Wing Catlin. It remained in the museum's collection until 1959, when it was sold through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. The work entered its current public holding as a gift from Mellon to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965.

The painting Oneida Chief, His Sister, and a Missionary is currently held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum's holdings in 1965 as a gift from Paul Mellon, who had previously acquired the work from the Kennedy Galleries in 1959. Prior to Mellon's ownership, the piece was purchased in 1912 by the American Museum of Natural History from the artist's daughter, Elizabeth Wing Catlin, after remaining in the Catlin family since George Catlin's death.

The work is cataloged as part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection, having been accessioned following the 1965 transfer. Specific inventory or accession numbers are not provided in the available records, though the object is identified as an oil painting on card mounted on paperboard created in 1861.

Created in 1865, this oil painting on card mounted to paperboard presents three figures positioned in a grassy landscape. The central figure, identified as a Oneida chief, stands between his sister on the left and a missionary on the right. The composition is rendered in muted earth tones, with occasional red accents highlighting clothing details.

By the mid‑nineteenth century, missionary activity among the Oneida and other Iroquois nations was increasing, and Catlin’s depiction captures that intersection of Indigenous identity and Christian outreach. The painting thus serves as a visual record of the cultural dynamics shaping the northeastern United States during that period.