Alfred Jacob Miller 1810 - 1874

Estimate

25,000 - 35,000 USD

bidding is closed

Description

Alfred Jacob Miller
An Indian Complaining of the Whites Having Destroyed the Game in Their Country, Pointing to a Plain, Which Was Once Covered With Buffalo - As Far As The Eye Could See - Now Without a Sign of Animal Life
inscribed 45., u.l.
pencil, pen and ink with gray and yellow washes on paper
8 1/4 by 6 3/4 in.
(21 by 17.1 cm)
Executed circa 1837.

Provenance

Sir William Drummond Stewart, circa 1839 (acquired directly from the artist)
Francis Nichols Stewart (sale: Chapman's, Edinburgh, Scotland, June 16-17, 1871)
Mr. Bonamy Mansell Power
Mr. Edward Power, 1900 (willed from the above)
Major G.H. Power, Great Yarmouth, England (by descent from the above; sold: Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, May 6, 1966, lot 13)
Private Collection, California
Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Acquired by the present owner from the above, 1996

Exhibited

Cody, Wyoming, Buffalo Bill Historical Center, The Mountain Man, May-September 1978 (as Rendezvous-Rocky Mountains)
Sante Fe, New Mexico, Gerald Peters Gallery; New York, Gerald Peters Gallery, Alfred Jacob Miller: Artist as Explorer - First Views of the American Frontier, September 1999-January 2000, p. 166, pl. 55, illustrated p. 167
Fort Worth, Texas, Amon Carter Museum; Omaha, Nebraska, Joslyn Art Museum, Sentimental Journey: The Art of Alfred Jacob Miller, September 2008-May 2009, no. 56

Literature

Murthly Castle Estate Sale Notices, (Mr. Chapman's sale advertisement), Scotsman, June 1, 1871, p. 8
Sale of Pictures from Murthly Castle," Scotsman, June 17, 1871, p. 2
"Sale of Antique Furniture and Tapestry from Murthly Castle," Scotsman, June 19, 1871, p. 2
Ron Tyler, ed., Alfred Jacob Miller: Artist on the Oregon Trail, with a Catalogue Raisonné by Karen Dewees Reynolds and William R. Johnston, Fort Worth, Texas, p. 225, no. 88A

Catalogue Note

Miller's sketch shows a Sioux Indian conversing with Sir William Drummond Stewart, pictured on the far left of the composition. The wild buffalo herds were seriously diminished by white hunters.