A Mid-day Halt on the Rio Trombutos, Brazil
A Mid-day Halt on the Rio Trombutos, Brazil
Artist
George Catlin
(1796 - 1872)
Dateca. 1855-1860
MediumHand-colored lithograph
Dimensions17 x 23 in. (43.2 x 58.4 cm)
ClassificationsPrint
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, 2014.2.4
Accession number
2014.2.4
On View
Not on viewLabel TextCatlin described this scene in a story published in The Crayon, a popular American journal in the mid-nineteenth century. Catlin and his traveling companion, a young Englishman named Smyth, had stopped to make a fire and roast a pig on the riverbank while their party slept. Surprisingly, while they cooked, a leopard had crept up and began playing with a sleeping companion’s legs. Catlin went quickly and quietly to the boat to retrieve his rifle and take aim, whereupon, “at the crack of the rifle the animal gave a piercing screech, and leaped about 15 feet straight into the air, and fell quite dead.” In words and images, Catlin portrays himself as both an expert shot and an entertaining storyteller.
Markingsrecto, l.l.: G. Catlin Pinxt
recto, l.r.: On Stone & Printed by J.M'Gahey Chester
recto, l.c.: A MID-DAY HALT ON THE RIO TROMBUTOS, BRAZIL. / While the Artist Catlin and one of his attendants were preparing their meal, the former discovered a large Leopard playing with the legs of another of his party, a Spaniard, who was fast asleep / under some small palms. Catlin crept to the boat and got his Colt's Revolver, when he shot the Leopard between the eyes producing instant death, and he adds "This was one of the most satisfactory shots I have ever had."
