Charles Wimar (1828-1862): The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter

Oil on canvas, unsigned.

15 1/2 x 18 1/2 in., 21 x 25 in. (frame).

Note: German-born painter Charles (Karl) Ferdinand Wimar immigrated to the United States with his family at the age of fifteen, settling in St. Louis, MO which had a large German immigrant population in the mid-19th century. In 1852, Wimar moved back to Germany to study at the Dusseldorf Academy. It was during his time in Dusseldorf, c. 1853, that he painted The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter by the Indians. Wimar was fascinated by the American frontier, and in particular by the conflict between Native Americans and Western settlers. The theme of captivity and abduction of white settlers by Native Americans was widely portrayed in fine art and literature at this time, helping to justify and glorify the colonization of the American West. In this composition, Wimar depicts three Native Americans abducting Jemima Boone as she picked wildflowers along the Kentucky River. Jemima is shown in the pose of a praying saint or martyr, furthering the notion that white Christians were innocent and pure, and that the Native Americans were barbarous savages. 

A large version of this painting is in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Musuem at Washington University in Saint Louis, MO. Wimar painted a later small version of this subject in 1855 that shows Jemima on a raft being paddled down the river by a group of Native Americans. It is in the collection of the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Fort Worth, TX. 

Some craquelure and surface soilig. A small rubbed spot lower left. Otherwise in good condition.

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