Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques

Peter Rindisbacher (1806-1834)

This young Swiss immigrant arrived at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers with his family in 1821.  Rindisbacher was the first European to portray, in paintings of remarkable detail, the peoples and cultures of the early nineteenth-century Selkirk Settlement. His 140 known scenes of life in early Manitoba have become invaluable historical and ethnological records of both Aboriginal culture and the fur trade.

As word of his artistic skill spread, he received commissions from numerous influential patrons, including officials of the Hudson’s Bay Company. After the disastrous flood of 1826, the Rindisbacher family moved to the United States. The artist’s promising career was cut short by his sudden death at the age of 28 in St. Louis, Missouri.