Object Details
- Artist
- Chester Harding, 1 Sep 1792 - 10 Apr 1866
- Sitter
- Daniel Boone, 11 Feb 1734 - 26 Sep 1820
- Exhibition Label
- Born Berks County, Pennsylvania
- By blazing a trail through the Appalachian Mountains, Daniel Boone opened the West to white settlement and came to personify the national myth of the indomitable frontiersman. While supporting his family as a fur trapper, Boone survived deadly attacks by the Shawanoe (Shawnee) and other Indigenous groups determined to prevent further encroachment into their homelands. Undeterred, in 1775, he established Boone Trace, a pathway through the Cumberland Gap into central Kentucky. Three years later, the Shawanoe captured Boone and adopted him into the family of Shawanoe chief Blackfish (also known as Cot-ta-wa-ma-go or Mkah-day-way-may-qua). Renamed Sheltowee (Big Turtle), Boone learned the language, traditions, and spiritual customs of his adoptive people. He fled after five months to warn the settlers of Boonesboro of an impending Shawnee attack.
- This portrait was made near the end of Boone’s eventful life after several embellished accounts of his exploits had transformed him into national legend.
- Nacido en Berks County, Pensilvania
- Al abrir una ruta a través de los Apalaches, Daniel Boone abrió el oeste a la colonización blanca y pasó a encarnar el mito del pionero indómito. Trabajando como trampero de pieles para sostener a su familia, sobrevivió a feroces ataques de los shawnees y otros grupos indígenas decididos a detener la invasión de sus tierras. Sin rendirse, en 1775 Boone estableció un camino a través del desfiladero de Cumberland hasta el área central de Kentucky. Tres años más tarde, los shawnees lo capturaron y fue adoptado por la familia del jefe Pez Negro (conocido también como Cot-ta-wa-ma-go o Mkah-day-way-may-qua). Con el nuevo nombre de Sheltowee (Gran Tortuga), Boone aprendió la lengua, las tradiciones y las costumbres espirituales de su pueblo adoptivo. A los cinco meses se fugó para advertir a los colonos de Boonesboro sobre un ataque inminente de los shawnees.
- Este retrato se hizo hacia el final de su azarosa vida, cuando ya era una leyenda nacional gracias a los relatos exagerados de sus hazañas.
- Provenance
- The artist; James B. Longacre; Estate of James B. Longacre (1870); purchased by J. Colvin Randall; Herbert Lee Pratt (1901); by family descent to Anne Van Ingen
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of the William T. Kemper Foundation and of the Chapman Hanson Foundation
- 1820
- Object number
- NPG.2015.102
- Restrictions & Rights
- CC0
- Type
- Painting
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- Stretcher: 74.3 × 61.6 cm (29 1/4 × 24 1/4")
- Frame: 88.9 × 76.8 × 5.1 cm (35 × 30 1/4 × 2")
- Place
- United States\Missouri\Franklin
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Exhibition
- Out of Many: Portraits from 1600 to 1900
- On View
- NPG, East Gallery 122
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Exterior\Landscape\Western
- Costume\Dress Accessory\Fur trim
- Costume\Outerwear\Coat\Jacket
- Daniel Boone: Male
- Daniel Boone: Politics and Government\Government official\State Legislator\Virginia
- Daniel Boone: Law and Crime\Police\Sheriff
- Daniel Boone: Business and Finance\Natural resources commerce\Pioneer
- Daniel Boone: Business and Finance\Natural resources commerce\Pioneer\Frontiersman
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2015.102
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm4f3e8f827-8ac6-46fa-bfdc-ce5d6c16134f
