Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Miller, William (1740?-1810?)
MILLER, WILLIAM (1740?–1810?), painter, was born about 1740, and practised in London with considerable repute towards the end of the last century. He exhibited portraits with the Free Society in 1768, and in the following year sent a battle-piece, being then, as stated in the catalogue, on his way to Rome. In 1780 and 1783 Miller contributed to the Society of Artists, of which he became a director, and from 1788 to 1803 to the Royal Academy. He painted historical, poetical, and domestic subjects, somewhat in the style of Mather Brown and Peters, as well as some good portraits. Two of the plates in Boydell's ‘Shakespeare,’ scenes from ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘Henry VI,’ are from pictures by Miller, and many of his other works have been engraved, including three subjects from the story of ‘Werther,’ by J. Cary and W. Sedgwick; ‘Alexander presenting Campaspe to Apelles,’ by J. B. Michel; ‘The Distracted Damsel,’ by V. Picot, 1785; ‘The Memorable Address of Louis XVI at the Bar of the National Convention’ and ‘The Last Moments of Louis XVI,’ both by Schiavonetti, 1796; ‘Innocent Recreation’ and ‘Animal Affection,’ by J. Godby, 1799; ‘Swearing-in of Alderman Newnham as Lord Mayor, 8 Nov. 1782,’ by B. Smith, 1801; and a portrait of Comte de Grasse, by J. Walker, 1782. Miller is said to have died about 1810. His ‘Swearing-in of Alderman Newnham,’ a very well painted picture, is in the Art Gallery of the Corporation of London.
[Nagler's Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Exhibition Catalogues of Society of Artists, &c.]