George Catlin

Happy Birthday George Catlin!! American painter, born in Philadelphia, in 1796, Catlin started out as a lawyer. He was enamored with Native Americans, however, and turned to painting scenes from the Old West. He traveled to Native American territories in Missouri and created  paintings of their lives and customs and nature. He returned with quite a collection of artifacts as well as over 500 paintings, that he used to set up an "Indian Gallery" in 1838.  He also published several collections of engravings. Much of his work is displayed in the Smithsonian.