Goretti Fine Art and the Museum of the Mountain Man have announced the unveiling of “La Prairie de la Messe,” a painting depicting the Jesuit missionary Pierre-Jean De Smet celebrating the first public Mass in present-day Wyoming at the close of the final Rocky Mountain Rendezvous.
The unveiling coincides with the 185th anniversary of the historic event as well as with the release of Volume 19 of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade Journal at the Green River Rendezvous Days celebration in Pinedale, Wyoming. This year’s issue of the journal features a peer-reviewed article about the painting, the process behind its creation, and its historical significance.
The 31×50” panel was produced by George Capps and Polly Capps Paule, a brother-sister team of professional artists and the founders of Goretti Fine Art, a studio dedicated to creating figurative artwork in the Baroque and Academic Realist traditions. The depiction contains twelve portraits of individuals present at the 1840 event, features a meticulous reconstruction of Rendezvous-era material culture, and showcases the cultural diversity that characterized the Rocky Mountain fur trade.
The original oil painting was completed in December 2024 and resides in a private collection. The Museum of the Mountain Man has acquired a full-scale replica for a feature exhibit showcasing the intersection between fine art and faithful historical representation.
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