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In late 1839, Miller took his paintings of the American West to Scotland. His patron on the 1837 fur-trading expedition, William Drummond Stewart, had recently inherited a title and several estates including Murthly Castle, near Perth. While there, the artist explored the Scottish countryside.Alfred Jacob Miller was a prolific sketcher. He filled many journals with drawings and captions from the time he was studying in Paris and Rome (1833) until the 1870's. The varied interests of Miller are clearly reflected in these sketches: rural sites, studies after Old Master paintings, illustrations of literature, and comical scenes and characters. This sketch comes from the family album of L. Vernon Miller, which contains works that have passed down through the Miller family directly from the artist.