Thayendanegea (Joseph Brant, 1742-1807), from "History of the Indian Tribes of North America"
John T. Bowen, American, born England, about 1801 - 1856
after Henry Inman, American, 1801 - 1846
after George Catlin, American, 1796 - 1872
after Ezra Ames, American, 1768 - 1836
1838
Hand colored lithograph on paper
Sheet: 20 × 14 in. (50.8 × 35.6 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Commander and Mrs. Charles Walkley, Class of 1938
PR.980.13
Publisher
Frederick W. Greenough, Philadelphia
Geography
Place Made: United States, North America
Period
19th century
Object Name
Research Area
Not on view
Inscriptions
Inscribed, lower center margin: Thayendanega, The Great Captain of the Six Nations, / Published by F.W. Greenough, Phila. / Drawn, Printed & Coloured at I.T. Bowen's Lithographic Establishment,/ No. 94 Walnut St.
Label
When sitting for his portrait by Ezra Ames, Mohawk leader Thayendanegea, or Joseph Brant, insisted that he be painted in the clothing of his nation. Brant wears a feathered headdress and a necklace likely made from wampum—a shell bead often used in treaty belts like the one on the other side of this gallery. This print made after a painted copy lacks the precision of Brant’s original portrait, but it still captures the powerful Mohawk leader in the manner he intended. Brant studied at Eleazar Wheelock’s Connecticut Indian School prior to the founding of Dartmouth. Dartmouth historian Colin Calloway credits Brant, whose nation allied with the British during the American Revolution, for helping to protect Dartmouth against attacks from the Mohawk and other Indigenous nations who sided with the British during the Revolutionary War.
From the 2025-26 exhibition Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, curated by Michael W. Hartman (Jonathan Little Cohen Curator of American Art), Haely Chang (Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art), Elizabeth Rice Mattison (Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art), Ashley B. Offill (Curator of Collections), and Evonne Fuselier (Hood Museum Board of Advisors Mutual Learning Fellow)
Exhibition History
Revolution Reconsidered: History, Myth, and Propaganda, Harteveldt Family Gallery and Owen Robertson Cheatham Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 18, 2025 - August 8, 2026.
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