The Female Eagle - Shawano

George Catlin

National Gallery of Art

Shown from the waist up, a Shawano woman with medium-brown skin sits angled to the right and looking off in that direction in this vertical portrait painting. She has broad, flushed cheeks, light brown eyes, a cleft chin, and her lips are closed. Her black hair is parted down the middle and tied at the base of her head. A ponytail falls over one shoulder, and her part is painted red. She wears an earring made up of a cluster of long, conical silver tubes in the ear we can see. At least nine strands of delicate, blue-toned beads encircle her neck, some falling to the hollow of her throat and some reaching down her chest. Her shoulders are bare as a lace-edged chemise, carnation-pink fabric striped with blue, green, and white, and a thick white fur or fleece wrap are gathered around her arms, which appear to be crossed in front of her belly. The background is mottled with muted mauve pink and smoky turquoise blue.