Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Miller, Alfred Jacob

MILLER, Alfred Jacob, artist, b. in Baltimore, Md., 2 Jan., 1810; d. there, 26 June, 1874. He received his first lessons in art from Thomas Sully, and, after painting with success in Baltimore and Washington, went to Europe in 1833,Europe in 1833, studied in Paris, Rome, and Florence, and lived on terms of intimacy with Thorwaldsen, Horatio Greenough, and Horace Vernet. His work at this time consisted chiefly of copies of the old masters, but it was done with appreciation and accuracy. In 1837 he accompanied Sir William Drummond Stewart to the Rocky mountains, and made a series of sketches of the scenes and incidents of the journey that were the ground-work of a gallery of Indian paintings that are now at Murthley castle. This is one of the most valuable collections of pictures of aboriginal American life that are now extant. He spent the winter of 1841 at Taymouth, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, in the highlands of Scotland, painting several portraits of the earl's family. On his return to Baltimore he opened a studio there and followed his art until his death. He belonged to the school of Sir Thomas Lawrence in portraiture.