White Castles on the Missouri

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

White Castles on the Missouri

Date

July 25, 1833

Dimensions

8 15/16 × 16 3/8 in. (22.7 × 41.6 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.176

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

Maximilian expressed great admiration for the variously colored strata and eroded rock formations observed along the Missouri embankments below the mouth of the Musselshell River. He remarked in particular about the visual effect of prominent layers of clay and white sandstone outcroppings topped with crumbling brown strata. These he described as resembling "white mountain castles with brownish roofs.... We came closer to the white mountain castles, as we called them.... As soon as one comes closer, the resemblance naturally vanishes; but from Mr. Bodmer's sketches one will easily see that from a distance a great resemblance exists." Dated July 25, this watercolor rendering of the White Castles was subsequently reproduced as Tableau 37 in the atlas of aquatints.

References in Journal

July 26, 1833

Labels:

riverscape , Missouri River , landscape

Approximate Depicted Location:

White Castles on Missouri below the mouth of the Musselshell River, Montana