Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874)

In June 1837, Alfred Jacob Miller undertook his first expedition to the West, departing St. Louis for the Green River in present day Wyoming in the company of Scottish nobleman Sir William Drummond Stewart. During his trip, Miller created over 150 preliminary sketches and watercolors, which he later used to create finished compositions in both watercolor and oil. Writing of the Wind River region of the Rocky Mountains depicted in the present work, Miller fondly recalled in his notes, "We scrambled over rocks, through briars and brushwood, crossed rapid streams and ascended steep acclivities. We at last found ourselves on the borders of these beautiful Lakes, and were richly repaid for all our difficulties." (as quoted in R. Tyler, Alfred Jacob Miller on the Oregon Trail, Fort Worth, Texas, 1982, pl. 74)

Once settled back in his native Baltimore in 1842, Miller completed oil paintings inspired by his travels and catered to the commissions of the Baltimorean elite. Patrons such as William C. Wilson, the original owner of the present work, would visit Miller in his studio and purchase pre-made oil paintings, or select themes from a watercolor portfolio to be executed in oil. Embodying a similar Romanticism as the works of Hudson River School icons Thomas Cole and Frederic Edwin Church, Miller's resulting paintings capture the topography and Native American way of life that the artist experienced on his travels, but also evoke the majesty and wildness of the storied, untouched American West. Indeed, "Miller thought that the Rocky Mountain lakes that he visited with Stewart were among the most striking he had ever seen, giving an idea of the 'sublimity and beauty' of the region. Miller did not identify the specific lakes that he painted, although among them surely were Boulder, Frémont, Willow, and New Forks lakes, all within Bridger National Forest today." (Alfred Jacob Miller on the Oregon Trail, pl. 73)

This 'sublimity' of the landscape is particularly emphasized in Wind River Mountains--Indians Chasing Deer through the inclusion of diminutive Indian figures in the foreground chasing after a deer just visible above the water as he tries to make his escape by crossing the lake. Executed with bold hues of white and red and in beautiful detail, especially considering their scale, the hunters are nonetheless overshadowed by the misty landscape around them, further underscoring the mysterious, adventurous aspects of the West that fascinated Miller's Baltimore patrons.