Inman’s portrait shows Native American leader Tshi-Zun-Hau-Kau (He-Who-Runs-with-Deer), who traveled to Washington, DC, in 1828 with a delegation from the Winnebago nation. He was described as “a warrior of remarkable genius and singular character.” In this portrait, he holds a feather-topped staff and cradles a steel hatchet. Around his neck he wears an Indian peace medal, a gift typically given to Native American leaders at treaty councils.

In these paired paintings of Niagara Falls, Grunewald united American painting, history, landscape, and identity. The two canvases offer an early example of the use of landscape to establish national identity through the sublime, a pictorial vocabulary that emphasizes the viewer’s felt experience over strict visual accuracy. Although at first glance the paintings appear to be a single view divided across two canvases, the perspective actually subtly shifts from one canvas to the other.

In these paired paintings of Niagara Falls, Grunewald united American painting, history, landscape, and identity. The two canvases offer an early example of the use of landscape to establish national identity through the sublime, a pictorial vocabulary that emphasizes the viewer’s felt experience over strict visual accuracy. Although at first glance the paintings appear to be a single view divided across two canvases, the perspective actually subtly shifts from one canvas to the other.

Like many artists working in America, Wollaston used English aristocratic portraits as source material. He was able to draw from his firsthand experiences in London and from the English mezzotint engravings that were brought to the colonies. His portraits are characterized by relaxed poses, natural settings, shimmering fabrics, and distinctive almond-shaped eyes. This portrait depicts Elizabeth Plumstead, whose father and grandfather both served multiple terms as mayor of Philadelphia.

In 1719 a Jesuit missionary copied an image of Our Lady of Refuge from Italy to bring to Mexico, and in 1843 the first Catholic bishop of California proclaimed this depiction of the Virgin be used to represent the patron saint of both Baja (lower) and Alta (upper) California. The lit votive candles on a shelf below the painting are intended to remind us that objects in museums often retain their original meanings, even after being removed from their original contexts.

According to the text at the bottom of this painting, Father Antonio Martinez was born in Mexico in 1750, ordained in 1794, and sat for this portrait in 1809. Portraits, documents, maps, and other artifacts help us better understand the social context in which the Spanish missions were established in California. The story of the mission period is one of diverse perspectives, with cultures coming into contact and conflict; objects like this portrait illustrate this complicated history.

Mission Santa Barbara was founded in 1786. It was built by the Chumash people, who were forced to aid in its construction and convert to Christianity. Before the arrival of the missionaries, the Chumash had lived in the area for thousands of years, spread across 40 neighboring villages. With their way of life destroyed by the introduction of the mission system, the Chumash came to rely on the mission for protection, food, and shelter.

This painting shows a Native American ceremony in the courtyard of the Mission San Francisco Solano de Sonoma, in present-day Sonoma, California. The mission operated for only 11 years before it was secularized; the northwestern-most post, it was the last mission founded in California and had been established without church approval. The local people who were forced to convert to Christianity were primarily members of the Coast Miwok, Pomo, Suisunes, Wappo, and Patwin tribes.

Nahl’s portrait presents a rare “fine art” depiction of culturally assimilated Native American man, a subject usually confined to ephemeral propaganda such as before-and-after photographs produced by social reformers. Dressed in a jacket and tie and shown outdoors with chickens and dogs, the sitter is awkwardly posed between two cultures and two identities. Today, this painting provides a counterpoint to the stereotypical images of Native Americans typically found in American museums.

Among the earliest landscapes in the Museums’ collection, Lake of the Mountains shows Doughty at his most ambitious and accomplished. The subject is a calm wilderness in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, featuring a placid lake and a mountain that resembles Mount Washington—Mount Chocorua’s companion peak—seen through the darkness of the quiet woods. The “authenticity” of the scene is bolstered by its inclusion of two Native American figures, who are dwarfed by the wilderness around them.