Stewart and Antoine Clement had been friends and companions for several years by the time Miller met them, and this double portrait probably reflected the fact that they were often in each other’s company throughout the summer. Miller had reason to respect both of them, for each was distinguished in his own right. Stewart was a war veteran who had proved his bravery in the mountains, leading even the mountain men to admit that he had the “h’ar… of the Grizzly in him.” (Ross, 1968, 36) Another witness called Clement “most fearless man I ever saw—the only one who would walk straight up to a grizzly bear.” Miller captured distinctive aspects of the two men that show up in others of their portraits—Stewart’s large nose and Antoine’s almond-shaped eyes and shoulder-length hair. (Troccoli, 51 – 52)
The intimacy and detail of these portraits suggest that they might have been done in the field, but the fact that Miller provides Stewart’s title, which was not official until 1839, suggests that Miller made the painting after the trip to the mountains, and perhaps about 1840 as he was preparing for the large painting, The Crows Attempting to Provoke an Attack from the Whites on the Big Horn River, East of the Rocky Mountains (CR#, 377A) that Stewart commissioned for Murthly Castle.
The artist; by descent to L. Vernon Miller, Baltimore, MD; [M. Knoedler and Company, New York, NY]; Thomas Gilcrease, Tulsa, OK; present owner by gift by gift
