Charles Russell Rocky Mountain Landscape 1904 Watercolor 7 1/4" x 9 3/4" St. Louis was a base for Western art. And, in its earliest days, the Mercantile Library was St. Louis' first true art museum, presenting a frontier populace the works of such masters as Chester Harding, Henry Lewis, Leon Pomaréde, Peter Rindisbacher, George Catlin, John Casper Wild, Sarah Peale, Alban J. Conant, George Caleb Bingham, Charles Deas, Carl Wimar, Joseph R. Meeker and Frederick Oakes Sylvester. Such luminaries make just the shortest list of scores of significant St. Louis artists who with their art told the story of the burgeoning lands of Manifest Destiny and their untold wealth, excitement, and sublime power.