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Eeh-nís-kim, Crystal Stone, Wife of the Chief
From the collection of Smithsonian American Art Museum. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
“I have also placed upon my canvas [Crystal Stone]; her countenance is rather pleasing, which is an uncommon thing amongst the Blackfeet---her dress is made of skins, and being the youngest of a bevy of six or eight, and the last one taken under his [the chief's] guardianship, was smiled upon with great satisfaction.” Crystal Stone was the youngest wife of the Blackfoot chief Buffalo Bull’s Back Fat, the “apple of his eye” and “exempted . . . from the drudgeries of the camp.” George Catlin painted this work at Fort Union in the upper Midwest in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 5, 1841; reprint 1973)
Smithsonian American Art Museum’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineEeh-nís-kim, Crystal Stone, Wife of the Chief. 1832. George Catlin, born Wilkes-Barre, PA 1796-died Jersey City, NJ 1872. Smithsonian American Art Museum, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.. CC0.
