The Dying Tecumseh

Object Details

Artist

Ferdinand Pettrich, born Dresden, Germany 1798-died Rome, Italy 1872

Sitter

Tecumseh

Gallery Label

Tecumseh (Shawnee, 1768--1813) was a vital figure in the Native American resistance to U.S. expansionism after the Revolution. A warrior chief from the Ohio Valley, he worked to build a coalition of Indigenous nations that would block white settlers from encroaching further west. In the War of 1812 (1812--15), Tecumseh strategically allied his forces with the British but was killed by U.S. troops in the Battle of the Thames. The future president William Henry Harrison, who led that pivotal battle, recognized the formidable challenge Tecumseh's coalition would have posed to the United States, calling him, "one of those uncommon geniuses, which spring up occasionally to produce revolutions."

This sculpture emulates the ancient Roman sculpture the Dying Gaul, which similarly portrays a military adversary as heroic, yet exotic and powerless. A fictive portrait, it mythologizes Tecumseh as a timeless "noble savage," dangerously and erroneously suggesting that his death and the rapacious expansion of the United States were inevitable. The work stood in the U.S. Capitol from 1864 to 1878, a time when Congressional legislation profoundly impacted Indigenous sovereignties.

Credit Line

Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Capitol

modeled ca. 1837-1846, carved 1856

Object number

1916.8.1

Restrictions & Rights

CC0

Type

Sculpture

Medium

marble with painted copper alloy tomahawk

Dimensions

36 5/8 x 77 5/8 x 53 3/4 in. (93.1 x 197.2 x 136.6 cm.)

See more items in

Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection

Department

Painting and Sculpture

On View

Smithsonian American Art Museum, 3rd Floor, North Wing

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Topic

Indian

Figure male\full length

State of being\death

Portrait male

Record ID

saam_1916.8.1

Metadata Usage (text)

CC0

GUID (Link to Original Record)

http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7d0705dcb-a8b3-41ef-a91b-b6bd3e11fd8c