The Jolly Flatboatmen
1846 National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
About this artwork
This oil on canvas depicts a group of boatmen relaxing on a flatboat drifting down a river. It is a quintessential example of mid-19th-century American genre painting highlighting life on the Western frontier.
Did you know?
George Caleb Bingham was known for his ability to capture the daily lives of people working on the Missouri and Mississippi rivers, often elevating these laborers to heroic stature. This specific work became so popular that Bingham produced multiple versions, and it was widely distributed through a mezzotint engraving by Thomas Doney, which helped define the image of frontier life for the American public.
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The Jolly Flatboatmen
George Bingham, 1846
