Karl Bodmer (1809–1893) was a Swiss painter of the American West. He accompanied German explorer Prince Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied from 1832 through 1834 on his Missouri River expedition, retracing the 1805 journey of Lewis and Clark. He recorded images of cities, rivers, towns and people, including many images of Native Americans, some of whom George Catlin had painted just months before. Bodmer was the last artist able to paint the Mandan Indians in North Dakota before the fatal 1837 smallpox epidemic that nearly obliterated the tribe. Bodmer returned to Europe with Maximilian and in Paris he had many scenes from the expedition (81 in total) reproduced as aquatints. The Prince had these images incorporated into his book, "Maximilian Prince of Wied's Travels in the Interior of North America," which was published in London in 1839.
