Ask the Scholar

Document scope · 1 page
obj
Scholar
Ask about this object, its catalog metadata, its source description, or the page inventory. For page-specific OCR and visual context, open one of the page chats.

Source Description

Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "The Indians have just driven the bear from his covert among some wild cherry bushes, which fruit is decidedly one of his weaknesses; of it he is remarkably fond. They are preparing to run him, giving him at the same time a wide berth, knowing very well the formidable qualities of the brute they have to deal with. As an arrow sometiems fails to pierce his body, owing to thick matted hair, they aim usually at the head, the most vulnerable part." 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
26320
label
The Grizzly Bear
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
26320
contentType
drawing
stage
normalized
title
The Grizzly Bear
description
Extracts from Alfred Jacob Miller’s original text, which accompanied his images of Native Americans, are included below for reference. "The Indians have just driven the bear from his covert among some wild cherry bushes, which fruit is decidedly one of his weaknesses; of it he is remarkably fond. They are preparing to run him, giving him at the same time a wide berth, knowing very well the formidable qualities of the brute they have to deal with. As an arrow sometiems fails to pierce his body, owing to thick matted hair, they aim usually at the head, the most vulnerable part." 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
William T. Walters, Baltimore, 1858-1860, by commission; Henry Walters, Baltimore, 1894, by inheritance; Walters Art Museum, 1931, by bequest.
date
1858-1860
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
genreSpecific
Painting & Drawing
watercolors (paintings)
imageCount
1
pageCount
1
source
import
dimensions
units
cm
width
23.8
height
31
dimensionsRaw
H: 9 3/8 x W: 12 3/16 in. (23.8 x 31 cm)
Source extras
inscriptions
[Monogram] Lower center: AJMiller
med
watercolor on paper
creator_ids
4486
collection_ids
EAN
exhibition_ids
2167
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
796c229ec6c60253