NO. 7 WHITE INFLUENCE ON INDIAN PAINTING—EWERS Z 
Shortly before Catlin left the Mandan, Four Bears invited him to 
a feast in his earth lodge and presented him with a robe bearing a 
representation of his most important coups. The chief had spent 
two weeks painting this robe during Catlin’s residence in the village. 
Unfortunately, the original of this robe is lost, and Catlin’s copy 
of the specimen, reproduced in his book and in one of his paintings 
in the American Museum of Natural History (pl. 8), appears to be 
an untrustworthy interpretation of the Indian artist’s style. Catlin 
adopted conventions of his own for rapidly rendering his copies of 
Indian pictographs. They appear to be more Catlin than Indian in 
style. Yet there is one detail in these paintings that Catlin surely did 
not invent—the hooklike hoofs of the horses, just like the horse hoofs 
portrayed by the unnamed Mandan artist prior to 1805. (See pl. 3.) 
Prince Maximilian and Bodmer came to know Four Bears (their 
Mato-Tope) even better than had Catlin. They first met him at Fort 
Clark in June 1833, on their way upriver, and the Prince bought 
from him “his painted buffalo dress,” suggesting that the clever In- 
dian was adept in dealing with white collectors. On their return to 
Fort Clark in November, Four Bears came to visit them in their 
studio. Prince Maximilian’s journal tells of his repeated visits to his 
quarters during their long stay at Fort Clark. Sometimes he spent 
the night on the floor before their fire. Four Bears exhibited an un- 
usual interest in Bodmer’s art. He brought other Indians to the 
studio to be painted and remained to watch the proceedings. He him- 
self posed for two portraits by the Swiss artist, one of which is re- 
produced as plate 5, figure 2. (The other, a full-length view in dress 
costume, is published as plate 46, in Maximilian’s Atlas). He also 
prevailed upon Bodmer to paint for him a white-headed eagle holding 
a bloody scalp in his claws. In return Four Bears painted for Maxi- 
milian a representation of his principal coups on a buffalo robe, and 
a separate rendering of one of his exploits, the conquest of a 
Cheyenne chief in hand-to-hand combat, apparently executed on 
paper. Although I have not been able to locate the originals of these 
works, they undoubtedly are reproduced with fidelity in Maximilian’s 
Atlas, plates 51 and 55. I include them here as plates 9 and Io. 
Comparison of the style of painting illustrated by the picture on 
plate 10 with that of the painting on Four Bears’ shirt (pls. 6 and 7), 
clearly reveals the great change in this Mandan artist’s style that 
took place during the period 1832-34. Gone were the knoblike heads, 
the stick figures, the crude proportions, the lack of detail. Heads 
were now painted in profile, the features sharply defined. Great care 
was taken in drawing a realistic human eye. The arms, legs, and 
