The Great Ant-Eater

Following the artist's death in 1872, the work passed by descent to his three daughters: Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

George Catlin executed The Great Ant-Eater in 1867 as an oil painting on card mounted to paperboard. Following the artist's death in 1872, the work 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 piece directly from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

The museum retained ownership until 1959, when it sold the painting through Kennedy Galleries of New York to Paul Mellon of Upperville, Virginia. Mellon subsequently donated the work to the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., in 1965.

The painting is held by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., where it is recorded as accession number 1965.16.1.

It entered the Gallery’s collection in 1965 as a gift from Mr. Paul Mellon, who had acquired it in 1959 through Kennedy Galleries, New York, from Elizabeth Wing Catlin.

The Great Ant-Eater has been recognized as an important example of George Catlin's work that blends natural history illustration with Romantic-era artistic sensibilities. Its depiction of a tree in a naturalistic setting contributed to early discussions about ecological relationships in American art. The painting's journey from Catlin's studio to the National Gallery of Art through family descent and the 1959 Kennedy Galleries sale helped establish its provenance as a significant work in American art history.

Today it remains part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection in Washington, D.C., where it continues to be studied for its contribution to 19th-century American art and naturalist painting traditions.

The Great Ant‑Eater is a modestly sized oil painting on card, later mounted on paperboard, executed by the American artist George Catlin in 1862. The composition centers on a solitary anteater perched in a tree, its striped tail coiled around a branch, illuminated by dappled light that highlights the animal’s soft fur.

Catlin presents the anteater as a quiet observer of its environment, emphasizing the creature’s integration with the tree rather than any dramatic action. The work reflects his broader interest in documenting the natural world of the American frontier, offering a glimpse of wildlife that was rarely portrayed in contemporary art.

In the mid‑19th century most American artists favored European subjects or idealized landscapes. Catlin’s focus on the western frontier, both its peoples and its wildlife, set him apart from his peers. The ant‑eater, a creature unfamiliar to many eastern viewers, illustrates his commitment to recording the diversity of the continent’s natural environment.