The irregular dimensions, worn condition and small size of this sheet all suggest it was an image created in the field. Miller needed to work on a small scale so that his images could dry quickly enough to travel, and stow conveniently in his portfolio. However, the layers of transparent and opaque watercolors, as well as the brown wash, added to give the image an illusion of darkness, indicate that Miller worked on this image over successive days. Stylistically, the image is also characteristic of the sketches he made for Stewart around the time of the trip. The mannered pose of the man standing behind the fire and to the left of the Indian is typical of the Stewart sketches, as is the simple and delicate rendering of strands of hair, or the fingers of his outstretched hand. The thin, brittle lines of the trees nearly obscured by the smoke of the fire at the right edge of the image are a feature frequently seen in the Stewart images (see CR# 92A).
The casual subject, together with its intimate scale and the foreground figures’ intense focus on the fire give the image a sense of freshness and immediacy we would expect from field work. Taken together with its rich jewel-toned colors, and evocative layers of wash, this watercolor is one of Miller’s finest.
The numeral four in the corner relates it to the accompanying note in Rough Draughts for Notes to Indian Sketches as well as the corresponding image in the Walters collection (CR# 94A).
