Skip to main content
Washington University in St. Louis
Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts

Create an account to add artworks to your personal collections.

Enter your email address below to recieve an email to reset your password.

An email has been sent to your inbox to reset your password.

image alt

Charles Ferdinand Wimar

The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter by the Indians

1853

image alt
1 / 1

A German-born immigrant to the United States, Charles Wimar painted The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter by the Indians while working in Düsseldorf with the famed history painter Emmanuel Leutze. Fascinated by the American frontier, Wimar focused during this period on images of Native American conflicts with settlers, in particular the theme of captivity and abduction, as portrayed here. This theme appeared widely in the popular literature and visual arts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, in which it was fashionable to mythologize the struggles of the frontier with exotic portrayals of the West and Native Americans. Wimar's painting, like others of the time, reinforces notions of Native Americans as savage and white settlers as cultivated and divinely ordained—a notion that helped justify white colonization of the West. Inspired by Daniel Bryan's epic poem The Mountain Muse, Wimar here depicted three natives seizing Jemima Boone as she picks wildflowers along the Kentucky River. Also drawing on traditional religious imagery, Wimar portrayed the captive young woman in the pose of a praying saint or martyr, further suggesting the piety and innocence of Christian Europeans and the aggressiveness and barbarity of Native Americans. [Permanent collection label, 2016]

  • Artist Charles Ferdinand Wimar (American, b. Germany, 1828–1862)
  • Title The Abduction of Daniel Boone's Daughter by the Indians
  • Date 1853
  • Medium Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions unframed | 40 5/16 x 50 1/4 in.
  • Credit line Gift of John T. Davis, Jr., 1954
  • Object number WU 4335

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/09/2016 - 01/15/2017

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/20/2013 - 01/06/2014

Weltclasse. Die Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918 (Worldclass: The Düsseldorf School of Painting, 1819–1918)
Museum Kunstpalast (Düsseldorf, Germany), 09/23/2011 - 01/22/2012

The American West: Selections from the Washington University Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/03/2002 - 04/14/2002

St. Louis and the Art of the Frontier
Saint Louis Mercantile Library, University of Missouri—St. Louis (St. Louis, Missouri), 11/11/2000 - 01/31/2001

American Painting of the 19th Century
Österreichische Galerie Belvedere (Vienna, Austria), 03/17/1999 - 06/20/1999

Counter Perception: The Shaping of Our Culture
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/09/1997 - 05/16/1997

Columbus of the Woods: Daniel Boone and the Typology of Manifest Destiny
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/24/1992 - 03/29/1992

Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S.
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 09/11/1992 - 11/01/1992

Carl Wimar: Chronicler of the Missouri River Frontier
Amon Carter Museum of American Art (Fort Worth, Texas), 05/04/1991 - 08/04/1991
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/26/1991 - 03/24/1991

Nineteenth Century Art from the Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 01/19/1986 - 04/01/1986

Parsons Collection
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1983 - 08/21/1983

The Centennial Exhibition
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/15/1981 - 10/11/1981

Summer Selections
Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University in St. Louis, 05/24/1979 - 08/31/1979

Kaleidoscope of American Painting, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City, Missouri), 12/02/1977 - 01/22/1978

The Hudson and the Rhine: die amerikanische Malerkolonie im 19. Jahrhundert
Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf (Düsseldorf, Germany), 04/04/1976 - 06/20/1976

American Panorama
Denver Art Museum (Denver, Colorado), 03/17/1968 - 05/27/1968

Carl Wimar: Painter of the Indian Frontier
Saint Louis Art Museum, 10/18/1946 - 12/15/1946

Tenth Annual St. Louis Fair
St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association (St. Louis, Missouri)

Fourth Annual St. Louis Fair
St. Louis Agricultural and Mechanical Association (St. Louis, Missouri), 09/26/1859 - 10/01/1859

Third Annual St. Louis Fair
Venue Unknown (St. Louis, Missouri)

First Annual Exhibition
St. Louis Exposition and Music Hall (St. Louis, Missouri)

1954
Erin Davis

Inscription Recto, lower left, in script, in black paint: C. Wimar / Dusseldorf 1853

This artwork record may be incomplete or need refinement. Our staff actively researches the collection and revises records when new information is available. If you have questions or comments about this record, please contact us.

Related Content

go to Fourth Annual St. Louis Fair page
no image
Exhibitions

Fourth Annual St. Louis Fair

September 26, 1859 - October 01, 1859
go to American Painting of the 19th Century page
no image
Exhibitions

American Painting of the 19th Century

March 17, 1999 - June 20, 1999
go to American Panorama page
no image
Exhibitions

American Panorama

March 17, 1968 - May 27, 1968
go to Carl Wimar: Chronicler of the Missouri River Frontier page
no image
Exhibitions

Carl Wimar: Chronicler of the Missouri River Frontier

January 26, 1991 - August 04, 1991
go to Carl Wimar: Painter of the Indian Frontier page
no image
Exhibitions

Carl Wimar: Painter of the Indian Frontier

October 18, 1946 - December 15, 1946
go to Columbus of the Woods: Daniel Boone and the Typology of Manifest Destiny page
no image
Exhibitions

Columbus of the Woods: Daniel Boone and the Typology of Manifest Destiny

January 24, 1992 - March 29, 1992
go to Counter Perception: The Shaping of Our Culture page
no image
Exhibitions

Counter Perception: The Shaping of Our Culture

May 09, 1997 - May 16, 1997
go to Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S. page
no image
Exhibitions

Green Acres: Neocolonialism in the U.S.

September 11, 1992 - November 01, 1992
go to Third Annual St. Louis Fair page
no image
Exhibitions

Third Annual St. Louis Fair

go to Kaleidoscope of American Painting, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries page
no image
Exhibitions

Kaleidoscope of American Painting, Eighteenth & Nineteenth Centuries

December 02, 1977 - January 22, 1978
go to Nineteenth Century Art from the Collection page
no image
Exhibitions

Nineteenth Century Art from the Collection

January 19, 1986 - April 01, 1986
go to Parsons Collection page
no image
Exhibitions

Parsons Collection

May 15, 1983 - August 21, 1983
go to St. Louis and the Art of the Frontier page
no image
Exhibitions

St. Louis and the Art of the Frontier

November 11, 2000 - January 31, 2001
go to First Annual Exhibition page
no image
Exhibitions

First Annual Exhibition

go to Summer Selections page
no image
Exhibitions

Summer Selections

May 24, 1979 - August 31, 1979
go to Tenth Annual St. Louis Fair page
no image
Exhibitions

Tenth Annual St. Louis Fair

go to The American West: Selections from the Washington University Collection page
no image
Exhibitions

The American West: Selections from the Washington University Collection

January 03, 2002 - April 14, 2002
go to The Centennial Exhibition page
no image
Exhibitions

The Centennial Exhibition

May 15, 1981 - October 11, 1981
go to The Hudson and the Rhine: die amerikanische Malerkolonie im 19. Jahrhundert page
no image
Exhibitions

The Hudson and the Rhine: die amerikanische Malerkolonie im 19. Jahrhundert

April 04, 1976 - June 20, 1976
go to Weltclasse. Die Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918 (Worldclass: The Düsseldorf School of Painting, 1819–1918) page
no image
Exhibitions

Weltclasse. Die Düsseldorfer Malerschule 1819–1918 (Worldclass: The Düsseldorf School of Painting, 1819–1918)

September 23, 2011 - January 22, 2012
go to American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century page
no image
Exhibitions

American Places: Painting the Landscape in the Nineteenth Century

September 20, 2013 - January 06, 2014
go to Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display page
no image
Exhibitions

Real / Radical / Psychological: The Collection on Display

September 09, 2016 - January 15, 2017

Image Reproduction Request Form

To request image materials and/or permission to reproduce a work of art from the Museum's collection, please complete and submit the form below. The information you provide here will enable us to process your request and assess the appropriate images, permissions, and any applicable fees. 

Typically, image requests that do not require new photography can be completed within three weeks. Whenever possible, rush orders may be accommodated, although additional fees may apply.

If you have questions, please contact Kristin Good, associate registrar, at kristin.good@wustl.edu.

Checking this box constitutes a legal signature. By checking this box, the applicant agrees to abide by all terms and conditions under which permission is granted to reproduce works of art in the collection of the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, and that permission is contingent upon payment of any applicable fees.

* Required fields

test View details