Alfred Jacob Miller (Maryland, 1810-1874) oil on board portrait of an English nobleman, possibly Sir William Drummond Stewart. The subject is depicted standing against a red draped backdrop with his right hand resting on a round table and attired in a white Renaissance style costume with red sash and flowing blue robe, a sword fixed to his left side. Signed lower right corner "Miller". Housed in a carved Louis XIII gilt frame. Sight - 8 3/4" H x 7" W. Framed - 12 3/8" H x 10 5/8" W. Provenance: Descended through the artist's family line. Baltimore estates of Virginia Howard Miller (c. 1880-1946) and Hugh Purviance King (1873-1966) passed down to present Living Estate of Virginia Johnston, Chattanooga, TN. The father of Virginia Howard Miller was Decatur Howard Miller, Alfred Jacob Miller's younger brother. Note: A 2012 appraisal of the painting titles the subject as Sir William Drummond Stewart but most Miller depictions of Stewart are with a mustache. Biography: Alfred Jacob Miller became the first American artist of consequence to paint the Rocky Mountains and was the only artist to chronicle figures of the legendary fur trade during its height. Although he portrayed Indian subjects, he was not especially interested in realistic depictions but romanticized his subjects, comparing the Indians of the West to Greek sculpture figures. He was encouraged to draw by his parents, and had local training in Baltimore and studied portraiture in Philadelphia from 1831 to 1832 with Thomas Sully. He studied in France from 1833 to 1834 and Italy at the English Life School in Rome. Returning to Baltimore, he opened a studio, but it was not successful. In 1836, he established a studio in New Orleans where he met Captain William Drummond Stewart, a Scottish aristocrat and British Army officer, who engaged Miller to accompany him on a Rocky Mountain trip in 1837. The idea was for Miller to make sketches that he could later convert to oil paintings for Stewart's castle in Scotland. The resulting sketches, about 200, in various media, and notebook studies of mountain men and Indians, mostly from Southwestern Wyoming, gave psychological insight into the subjects. These depictions captured the end of the heydey of the mountain men and also showed many scenes from Indian life. However, the works were not intended for public display but for the personal enjoyment of Stewart. The sketches were shipped to Stewart's ancestral home, Murthly Castle in Scotland. Miller, fulfilling his commitment to Stewart, lived at the Castle from 1840 to 1842, and painted scenes in oil from their journey. This arrangement was made by Stewart after the death of his older brother from whom he inherited the castle. Miller then settled in Baltimore, making a good living from oil paintings from numerous copies of his Rocky Mountain sketches and from portraiture. With many of his paintings, he supplied narrative descriptions, but, unlike many Easterners who traveled West before white settlement, he never published written descriptions of his western adventures. (source: Askart) (Additional high-resolution photos are available at www.caseantiques.com.)

Area of rubbing to board left margin. Lower left corner and margin of frame with areas of repair.