[Catlin Painting] Keokuk (the Watchful Fox) was a great warrior and diplomat of his people, the Sauk and Fox. He traveled from present-day Oklahoma to Washington, D.C., in an effort to protect his people's rights while they negotiated with the government over the sale of native lands.

In 1804 the Sauk and Fox had been duped into signing a treaty requiring their removal from their original homelands. Keokuk wished to prevent a similar incident, but his efforts had little effect.

George Catlin painted this portrait--modeled on heroic European equestrian portraits--as part of his efforts to commemorate Native Americans and their cultures.

Courtesy of the National Museum of American Art, gift of Mrs. Joseph Harrison, Jr.

Keokuk on Horseback, 1835, by George Catlin (1796-1872), oil on canvas

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