Karl Bodmer

The White Castles on the upper Missouri

In 1832, Karl Bodmer accompanied naturalist Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian of Neuwied, Prussia (now in Germany) on an excursion into the American West. Although Maximilian and Bodmer were not the first to explore the terrain, their team was the first that combined a dedicated scientist with a skilled illustrator. The result of their efforts, Travels in the Interior of North America 1832 to 1834, was published serially in between 1839-41, and included eight-one engraved etchings by Bodmer.

On July 25, 1833, the party encountered this view of dazzling white bluffs, which Maximilian described in his journal as “a remarkable place, where we thought that we saw before us two white mountain castles.” Bodmer’s scientific attention to detail documents the flight and grazing patterns of wildlife, while his masterful compositional sensibility ably captures the scene’s grandness.