This remarkable painting hangs on a hotel wall in New Orleans. Anyone know anything else about it?
Update, April 14, 2014: Reader K.F. Carmen writes in:
Hello from Canada! Just thought I’d fill you in on what I’ve recently ascertained in regards to that cool painting in New Orleans. I was there a couple weeks ago with my wife and we actually stayed at the “Le Richelieu” where it has hung since the 60’s or at least the early 70’s.
In the bar of this quaint hotel on the edge of “The French Quarter”, there is a framed photo of Paul and Linda McCartney standing in front of the eerie painting. I was thrilled by this right off because I’m a huge fan plus I loved the painting. So, I asked the girl at the front desk and she gave me some info which I forgot half of soon after. I thought I recalled her saying “John MacKenzie crossing the Mississippi to sign something very important.
I’m no historian by any means, so I got it mixed up with John A. McDonald and then I was totally confused. Weird picture nonetheless! I actually took a nice snap of it ( which I’ll include ), you see, I’ve been obsessed with freaky paintings before. After reading Rose Madder, by Stephen King, I was driving along and came upon a black velvet painting of a mean-looking bandito. It was sitting out back of someone’s house with some other junk. For some reason, I decided I had to have it. I knocked on the door to see if they were tossing it out or whatever. No-one home. I was gonna grab it but there were neighbors around. I left and came back a few times but never ended up getting it. I do remember being overly obsessed with it though. Anyway, sorry to drag you through all that. The point is that, when I got home, I made a desk-top background out of the painting ( looks great ) and it got me to thinking: Who is this guy? Why the cat? So I went on google, queried: who is the man crossing the Mississippi in a canoe with a black cat in a painting in New Orleans?
That brought up a few pages but I immediately saw the image on one site. I clicked, sure enough it was there. This is where I saw your name. I thought: Why does this guy want to know so much about such a weird picture? I noticed there were some responses so I read them. Most of the early posts didn’t seem to know anything but finally some guy nailed it. It was John McDonagh going to sign something important. Here’s the weird part: There was another image a few over of another painting identical except a different guy sitting in the middle of the canoe. Same boat, background,cat,black man, everything. I clicked on that image and some other info came up. Missouri, 1845, fur-traders and all that. Did someone copy it? Was someone selling portraits to all the river-crossers that day? Like, what gives here? That’s all I know or care to know at this stage