Mouth of the Fox River, Indiana

In 1832, Swiss artist Karl Bodmer, age 23, found himself in Indiana with time on his hands. The German naturalist Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied had hired Bodmer to record his expedition up the Missouri River, but the prince got sick in New Harmony, Indiana. While he recuperated, Bodmer explored the mouth of the Fox and Wabash rivers. This watercolor captures an almost primeval shoreline overhung with ghostly bark and rapacious roots, along with a romantic vista of wading cattle. Elements of this scene became the basis for an aquatint published in Maximilian’s book Travels in the Interior of North America (1839-43).