American Art Collaborative

Cheyenne chief Wolf on the Hill, George Catlin explained, “was clothed in a handsome dress of deer skins, very neatly garnished with broad bands of porcupine quill-work down the sleeves of his shirt and his leggings, and all the way fringed with scalp-locks. His hair was very profuse, and flowing over his shoulders; and in his hand he held a beautiful Sioux pipe, which had just been presented to him by Mr. M’Kenzie, the Trader. This was one of the finest looking and most dignified men that I have met in the Indian country; and from the account given of him by the Traders a man of honour and strictest integrity.” Catlin painted this work at Fort Pierre (in present-day South Dakota) in 1832. (Catlin, Letters and Notes, vol. 2, no. 32, 1841; reprint 1973