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Catlin the Celebrated Indian Traveller and Artist, Firing His Colt's Repeating Rifle Before a Tribe of Carib Indians in South America

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Photography by Edward C. Robison III
Catlin the Celebrated Indian Traveller and Artist, Firing His Colt's Repeating Rifle Before a Tribe of Carib Indians in South America
Photography by Edward C. Robison III

Catlin the Celebrated Indian Traveller and Artist, Firing His Colt's Repeating Rifle Before a Tribe of Carib Indians in South America

Artist (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, 2014.2.6
Accession number 2014.2.6
On View
Not on view
Provenancecommissioned by Samuel Colt [1814-1862], Hartford, CT, ca. 1855-1860. (William Reese Company, New Haven, CT); purchased by Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, AR, 2014
Markingsrecto, l.l.: G. Catlin, Pinxt
recto, l.r.: On Stone & Printed in Oil Colors by J.M'Gahey, Chester
recto, l.c.: CATLIN THE CELEBRATED INDIAN TRAVELLER AND ARTIST, FIRING HIS COLT'S REPEATING RIFLE BEFORE A TRIBE OF CARIB INDIANS IN SOUTH AMERICA. / "It having been reported by one of my party that I had a Medicine Gun, which would fire all day without reloading, the Men, Women & Children, assembled in front of the Chief's Lodge to get a sight of it,_when I found it necessary to make an exhibition_and arranged a target at a suitable distance when I took my position / in front of the crowd rapidly discharging all the chambers, and cocked the piece for a continuation, but the Chief advanced and assured me they were all satisfied, and I had better save my powder and balls, as I might want them, on a very long journey."