Prairie Dog Village

Prairie Dog Village was painted by George Catlin in 1861, executed in oil on card mounted on paperboard. The work remained in the artist's possession during his lifetime and 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 acquired the painting through a purchase from Elizabeth Wing Catlin. It was later sold in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries in New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Six years later, in 1965, Mellon gave the painting to the National Gallery of Art, where it has since remained in the collection.

The painting Prairie Dog Village by George Catlin is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. It entered the museum's collection through a gift in 1965 from Paul Mellon, following its acquisition in 1959 from Kennedy Galleries in New York, which had purchased it from Elizabeth Wing Catlin in 1912. The work was previously in the possession of Catlin's daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin by descent.

The artwork is cataloged with an accession number at the National Gallery of Art and has been part of the museum's permanent collection since 1965. It was created in 1861 and measures 46.9 cm in height by 63.4 cm in width.

Created in 1865, Prairie Dog Village is an oil painting executed on card that has been mounted on a paperboard support. The work presents an expansive grassland punctuated by the characteristic mounds of prairie‑dog colonies, with a distant horizon of low hills under a pale sky. A solitary rider and a walking figure appear near the edge of the scene, adding a human element to the otherwise natural tableau.