New Mexico on the Mississippi

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

New Mexico on the Mississippi

Date

January 1833

Dimensions

6 3/8 × 8 11/16 in. (16.2 × 22.1 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.94

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Bodmer's watercolor of the village of New Mexico carries conflicting notations on the reverse. One indicates that it was done on January 12 and the other on January 6 at twelve o'clock. Maximilian stated in his journal that Bodmer reached New Mexico on January 12 and gave its location as "near Memphis." At the same time he mentioned that it was near or opposite the mouth of the Arkansas River. According to a map of the Mississippi Valley published by H. S. Tanner at Philadelphia in 18321 New Mexico was located above or north of Vicksburg, Mississippi, about midway between Memphis, Tennessee, and Natchez, Mississippi, the next mentioned stop in Maximilian's account of Bodmer's travels downriver. Bodmer was in New Orleans between January 12 and 22, so the date of his brief stop at the settlement of New Mexico remains uncertain.

References in Journal

February 15, 1833

Labels:

structure , Mississippi River

Approximate Depicted Location:

New Mexico, Mississipi River