594 REPORT OP NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1890. 



brush, which had secured already a corner in my affections, and I commenced reading 

 the law for a profession under the direction of Reeve and Gould, of Connecticut. I 

 attended the lectures of these learned j udges for two years — was admitted to the bar — 

 and practiced the law as a sort of Nimrodical lawyer, in my native land, for the term of 

 two or three years ; when I very deliberately sold my law library and all (save my rifle 

 and fishing tackle), and converting their proceeds into brushes and paint pots, I com- 

 menced the art of painting in Philadelphia, without teacher or adviser. 



"I there closely applied my hand to the labors of the art for several years; during 

 which time my mind was continually reaching for some branch or enterprise of the 

 art on which to devote a whole lifetime of enthusiasm; when a delegation of some 

 ten or fifteen noble and dignitied-looking Indians, from the wilds of the "Far West," 

 suddenly arrived in the city, arrayed and equipped in all their classic beauty, — with 

 shield and helmet, — with tunic and manteau, — tinted and tasseled off, exactly for the 

 painter's palette ! 



" In silent, and stoic dignity these lords of the forest strutted about the city for a 

 few days, wrapped in their pictured robes, with their brows plumed with the quills of 

 the war eagle, attracting the gaze and the admiration of all who beheld them. After 

 this, they took their leave for Washington City, and I was left to reflect and regret, 

 which 1 did long and deeply, until I came to the following deductions and conclusions : 



'"Black and blue cloth and civilization are destined, not only to veil, bat to obliter- 

 ate the grace and beauty of Nature. Man, in the simplicity and loftiness of his nature, 

 unrestrained and unfettered by disguises of art, is surely the most beautiful model 

 for the painter, — and the country from which he hails is unquestionably the best study 

 or school of the arts in the world: such, I am sure, from the models I have seen, is 

 the wilderness of North America. And the history and customs of such a people, 

 preserved by pictorial illustrations, are themes worthy the lifetime of one man, and 

 nothing short of the loss of my life, shall prevent me from visiting their country, and 

 of becoming their historian. 



"There was something inexpressibly delightful in the above resolve, which was to 

 bring me amidst living models for my brush : and at the same time to place in my 

 hands again, for my living and protection, the objects of my heart, above named: 

 which had long been laid by to rust and decay in the city, without the remotest pros- 

 pect of again contributing to my amusement. 



" I had fully resolved — I had opened my views to my friends and relations, but got 

 not one advocate or abettor. I tried fairly and faithfully, but it was in vain to 

 reason with those whose anxieties were ready to fabricate every difficulty and danger 

 that could be imagined, without being able to understand or appreciate the extent 

 or importance of my designs, and I broke from them all, — from my wife and my aged 

 parents, —myself my only adviser and protector." 



Such is Catlin's own rather flowery account of how he formed his 

 resolution ; but the language in which he expresses it is only an evidence 

 of the reality of his enthusiam. 



These paintings as works of art I now often hear unfavorably criti- 

 cised; but criticism is an easy task for those who do not appreciate the 

 difficulties under which Catliu labored. To-day our laud is filled with 

 artists of both sexes, of all ages, and of every degree of fitness and 

 unfitness. The number of amateur aspirants in art has increased an 

 hundred fold in the last half century. 



To accommodate this growth of artistic demand, the conveniences and 

 appliances of art have improved and increased. The well equipped 

 sketcher in oil of to-day can not appreciate the difficulties of the travel- 

 ing artist in America fifty or sixty yeans ago. There were then no patent 



