American Art Collaborative

“This man is head-chief of the [Mandan] nation, and familiarly known by the name of ‘Chef de Loup’ as the French Traders call him; a haughty, austere, and overbearing man, respected and feared by his people rather than loved. The tenure by which this man holds his office, is that by which head-chiefs of most of the tribes claim, that of inheritance . . . The dress of this chief was one of great extravagance, and some beauty; manufactured of skins, and a great number of quills of the raven, forming his stylish head-dress.” George Catlin painted Ha-na-tá-nu-maúk at a Mandan village in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 1, no. 13, 1841; reprint 1973)