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Source Description

Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "The sketch represents the interior of a Lodge and the Snake Indian entertaining a free Trapper at a feast. The latter is engaged in recounting some adventure to his host, partly by his limited knowledge of the Indian Language, and by signs. To the right is seated an Indian woman who watches his every movement with intense interest;- she has no doubt often heard of the extravagant generosity of these reckless follows, and worships him accordingly." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.

Scholar Source Context

Document identity
localId
28546
label
Indian Hospitality
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
2
Source metadata
id
28546
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
Indian Hospitality
description
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "The sketch represents the interior of a Lodge and the Snake Indian entertaining a free Trapper at a feast. The latter is engaged in recounting some adventure to his host, partly by his limited knowledge of the Indian Language, and by signs. To the right is seated an Indian woman who watches his every movement with intense interest;- she has no doubt often heard of the extravagant generosity of these reckless follows, and worships him accordingly." A.J. Miller, extracted from "The West of Alfred Jacob Miller" (1837).In July 1858 William T. Walters commissioned 200 watercolors at twelve dollars apiece from Baltimore born artist Alfred Jacob Miller. These paintings were each accompanied by a descriptive text, and were delivered in installments over the next twenty-one months and ultimately were bound in three albums. Transcriptions of field-sketches drawn during the 1837 expedition that Miller had undertaken to the annual fur-trader's rendezvous in the Green River Valley (in what is now western Wyoming), these watercolors are a unique record of the closing years of the western fur trade.
provenance
Commissioned by William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1858-1860; inherited by Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894; by bequest to Walters Art Museum, 1931.
date
1858-1860
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
watercolors (paintings)
imageCount
2
pageCount
2
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
21.3
height
26.7
dimensionsRaw
H: 8 3/8 x W: 10 1/2 in. (21.3 x 26.7 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Monogram] Lower right: AJMiller
med
watercolor on paper
creator_ids
4486
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
2850
Page inventory
seq
1
type
photo
mediaId
3341ff2f31631b32
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no
seq
2
type
photo
mediaId
a6943d06c386f449
hasOcr
no
hasDescription
no