# Nishnabottana Bluffs, 1070 Miles above St. Louis

**George Catlin** (born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872)  
1832  
oil on canvas  
11 1/4 x 14 3/8 in. (28.5 x 36.6 cm)

Courtesy of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 1985.66.385. [The museum's record](https://americanart.si.edu/collections/search/artwork/?id=4285).

## About this work

George Catlin journeyed up the Missouri River in 1832. “I often landed my skiff,” he recalled, “and mounted the green carpeted bluffs whose soft grassy tops, invited me to recline, where I was at once lost in contemplation. Soul melting scenery that was about me! A place where the mind could think volumes; but the tongue must be silent that would speak, and the hand palsied that would write.” (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 32, 1841; reprint 1973)

_Text from the Smithsonian American Art Museum._

George Catlin painted this in 1832, aged 36. It is now at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC.

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [George Catlin](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/george-catlin)

born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872

Catlin gave up the law to paint, first as a portraitist in Philadelphia, and from 1830 made a series of journeys west from St Louis to record the peoples of the Plains. On a steamboat trip up the Missouri in 1832 he painted hundreds of portraits and scenes of daily life and landscape. He toured his “Indian Gallery” through the eastern cities and Europe, and his illustrated books made these images widely known.

_Written by Ochre Editions._

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 36
- Real size: about 11 × 14 in (29 × 37 cm). The 11 × 14 in print is close to life size.
- Century: 19th century
- Subjects: Western, Mountains, Landscapes, Nishnabottana Bluffs
- Colour: olive
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1979.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1979/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/nishnabottana-bluffs-1070-miles-above-st-louis-si-saam-1985-66-385).