Shoshonean Woman

Description

The territory of the Shoshonean Indians was west of the Rocky Mountains. There were several Shoshonean women at Fort McKenzie, said to have been taken prisoner by the Blackfeet. This individual was the wife of Marcereau, a fur company employee. She gave birth on August 25 and was up and about the same day. Her portrait was painted twelve days later, and her dark color was commented on by Maximilian, who attributed it to a gradually worsening liver disease. Bodmer's often extraordinary attention to detail is evident in this sketch, where stitching is indicated along , the edge of the capelike yoke of the dress. Her picture appears in Tableau 33 of the aquatint atlas, along with that of a Cree woman (Plate 268).