Captain Bulger, Governor of Assiniboia, and the Chiefs and Warriors of the Chippewa Tribe of Red Lake, in Council in the Colony House in Fort Douglas, May 22nd, 1823

Swiss immigrant Peter Rindisbacher painted this watercolour at the age of 15. In 1821, he moved with his family to the Red River Colony, in Manitoba, and became the first recognized artist working west of the Great Lakes. An employee of the store in Fort Garry, he sold watercolours depicting the Prairies and Aboriginal life in meticulous detail. He made a number of illustrations for the colony's governor, Andrew H. Bulger (1789-1858), portrayed here seated in a chair.