Blackfeet-Assiniboin Girl

Description

Children rarely figured as the subject matter of Bodmer's paintings or Maximilian's observations. One exception is this portrait of a little girl, most likely the child Maximilian said was drawn at Fort Union in October, 1833 . She was a Blackfeet but was living with the Assiniboins. Perhaps she had been taken captive after some skirmish between these two warring tribes and was being raised by an Assiniboin family. The child is wearing leggings and ornaments that are smaller versions of those seen on adults in other portraits. The hide dress appears to be several sizes too large for her, the excess material folded over at the waist. A tie at the neckline has broken or come undone, causing the dress to fall over one shoulder. In Tableau 9 of the published aquatints this girl appears with a Teton woman whose picture had been taken downriver at Fort Pierre earlier in 1833 (see Plate 192).