The American painter George Caleb Bingham (1811-1879) depicted life in Missouri around the middle of the 19th century. His best-known subjects are the masculine world of river boatmen and rural politics.

Although George Caleb Bingham is known today for his well-composed, candid genre paintings, he also painted portraits and landscapes. In fact, in his 40 years of work he created fewer than 50 narrative paintings, while his portraits probably total more than a thousand. Most of his genre studies were painted during a span of only 10 years. He spent most of his mature life in politics and portrait painting; his involvement in Missouri politics led to many portrait commissions. Thus, during his lifetime he was best known as a politician and portrait painter, rather than as the master of genre he is considered today.

Bingham was born March 20, 1811, in rural Virginia. Eight years later his family moved to Franklin, Mo...