ORThe Open Room
Digital gallery
Back to the NGA collection
The image depicts a scene from an elevated perspective. A row of leaning palm trees forms the horizon just above the center of the image. Below, multiple people and animals are gathered on a grassy area, with a simple thatched roof structure visible in the distance. The background is filled with swaying palm trees against the sky. The painting employs soft brushstrokes and a color palette dominated by pale blues for the sky and soft greens and earth tones for the landscape and figures.
Read the visual description

The image depicts a scene from an elevated perspective. A row of leaning palm trees forms the horizon just above the center of the image. Below, multiple people and animals are gathered on a grassy area, with a simple thatched roof structure visible in the distance. The background is filled with swaying palm trees against the sky. The painting employs soft brushstrokes and a color palette dominated by pale blues for the sky and soft greens and earth tones for the landscape and figures.

National Gallery of Art · Painting

A Small Tobos Village

George Catlin

Date
1854/1869
Medium
oil on card mounted on paperboard
Dimensions
overall: 46.5 x 62.6 cm (18 5/16 x 24 5/8 in.)
Classification
Painting
Accession number
1965.16.291
Credit line
Paul Mellon Collection
Time span
1851 to 1875
Department
CAB
Original NGA record Wikidata

Subjects and terms

  • painted surface
  • American
  • Village
  • American Paintings, Catlin
  • Tobos
  • South American Indian
  • architecture
  • landscape
Provenance

George Catlin [1796-1872]; by descent to his daughters, Clara Gregory Catlin, Louise Catlin Kinney, and Elizabeth Wing Catlin; purchased 1912 from Elizabeth Wing Catlin by the American Museum of Natural History; sold 1959 through (Kennedy Galleries, New York) to Mr. Paul Mellon, Upperville, VA; gift 1965 to the NGA.

NGA object ID 50599. Collection metadata is reproduced under CC0. This work is included because its NGA published-image record is marked open access; visitors should recheck the source record before substantial reuse.