Trial of Skill – with the Bow and Arrow

Generously provided by The Walters Art Museum

This is one of the early drawings made by Miller for Stewart on or shortly after the 1837 trip west. The artist’s patron can be seen in the middle ground watching Indian men display their skill at archery. An Indian near Stewart is pointing out the rules of the sport, since a good deal of betting accompanies the amusement.

This drawing was acquired by The Walters Art Museum many years after the William Walters commission in 1858 — 1859. It was purchased in 1966, perhaps to be associated with the more finished late watercolor that it had inspired. (CR# 455B)

Peter H. Hassrick

Object Information
Provenance

Artist

Alfred Jacob Miller

Date

ca.1837

Catalogue Number

455A

Medium

Pen and ink with gray and yellow washes on paper

Inscriptions

UL: 22

Dimensions: 7 3/8 x 10 1/4 (18.8 x 26.1 cm)
Accession Number: 37.2438
Subjects: Indians

The artist; Sir William Drummond Stewart, 1839; Frank Nichols Stewart, 1871; Bonamy Mansell Power; willed to Edward Power, 1900; by descent to Major G.H. Power, Great Yarmouth, England, 1966; [Parke-Bernet Galleries, New York, NY, 1966]; present owner

Trial of Skill – with the Bow and Arrow

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