A Grand Carouse

In April 1837, a distinguished gentleman entered the new studio of a young artist on Chartres Street in New Orleans. He lingered over a large painting of the city of Baltimore and offered a compliment before leaving. A few days later, William Drummond Stewart, a wealthy Scot, hired Alfred Jacob Miller as expedition artist for a journey into the Rocky Mountains of the vast American West.

Their destination was the rendezvous of 1837 . In a general sense, the French word rendezvous means “meeting.” The rendezvous was a week-long gathering of fur trappers, Indians, fur company agents, and a few adventurers such as Stewart.

Butchering a Buffalo, Taking the Hump Rib. View detail.

The Rendezvous Near Green River -- Oregon, 1837 (General View of indian Camp). View detail.

At the confluence of the Green River and Horse Creek, near present day Pinedale , beaver pelts and buffalo robes were traded for supplies, trinkets, and watered-down alcohol. The annual event was a great meeting of cultures and a time for horse racing, spectacle, games, wagers, and story telling. Miller described it as “a grand carouse…”

Today, Miller’s sketches and paintings give us the only eye-witness visual account of the rendezvous period of the Rocky Mountain fur trade.

Hutning the Grizzly Bear . View detail.

Approaching a Herd of Buffalo, Crossing the Platte River. View detail.

Miller’s West, Illustrated and Imagined

Alfred Jacob Miller proved himself to be a keen observer and sensitive recorder of scenes along the trail, mountain landscapes, and dramatic moments at camp. His training in Paris and Rome prepared him well to please his patron.

Miller completed more than 200 field sketches in pencil and in water color. Besides scenes of the trip, Miller illustrated Stewart’s exploits, including many that undoubtedly never happened.

Captain Stewart was a veteran of four previous rendezvous and the Napoleonic Wars. He is easily identified in Miller’s pictures by his hooked nose, fringed buckskin, and magnificent white horse.

Also featured is handsome Antoine Clement, half Canadian, half Indian, and by far the best hunter in the party.

Miller depicted the lives of trappers and Indians, often illustrating practices he did not have the opportunity to observe and scenes from stories heard at camp. From the campfires of the Rocky Mountains, Miller provided Stewart with vivid pictures for the tales he would tell before the hearth-fires of manor houses in Scotland.

The Scalp Lock (attributed to Alfred Jacob Miller) . View detail.

Antoine Watering Stewart's Horse. View detail.

From Wyoming to Birnam Wood and Back

From Miller’s original sketches, Stewart asked the artist to create a number of full-sized oil paintings for the walls of Murthly Castle, the Stewart ancestral home. Murthly lay on the edge of the Scottish highlands near the city of Perth.

On the estate stood the remnant trees of Birnam Wood, made famous in Shakespeare’s play, Macbeth. Stewart populated the grounds with American bison. Along the graveled drive, he planted two long rows of Douglas firs, transplanted as saplings from the Wind River Mountains.

Upon Stewart’s death, his adopted son sent Murthly’s treasures to auction, and from there began the journey that brought many of the Miller paintings back to Wyoming, including the eight now at the American Heritage Center.

Miller, the artist, secured the association of William Drummond Stewart with the Rocky Mountain fur trade, and Stewart, as patron, secured Alfred Jacob Miller’s name as its esteemed and only visual chronicler.

Thus, the meeting of artist and Scotsman produced a legacy of American art and history.

War Ground. Beating a Retreat. View detail.

Hunting Elk. View detail.