The Old Print Shop, New York
The Boatmen's National Bank, St. Louis, Missouri, 1941 (acquired from the above)
Acquired by the present owner, 1996

St. Louis, Missouri, City Art Museum, Westward the Way, 1954, no. 138, p. 175, illustrated
St. Louis, Missouri, The Boatmen's National Bank, May 1964

Ron Tyler ed. Alfred Jacob Miller: Artist on the Oregon Trail, Fort Worth, Texas, 1982, no. 60G, p. 214, illustrated in color p. 109

The following condition report has been prepared by Yost Conservation, LLC: This painting was recently examined and found to be in very good condition. 'fhe paint layer itself is in an excellent stale of preservation. The original paint layer has not been abraded or altered by any past cleanings and the colors have retained their vibrancy and opacity over close inspection of the caravan reveals that all of the details are fuily intact down to the finest single hair brushstrokes in the far-distant figures, wagons and horses. Ultraviolet light examination shows that a thin veneer of a natural soft resirivarnish is covering the entire paint surface. This varnish has a pale green fluorescence under UV Iight and a slight yellow tone to the eye and is most likely a remaining layer of the original varnish. The pairiting was clearly previously cleaned but the original varnish was not fully removed thus protecting all of the original thin artist final glazes which are sensitive to cleaning. A more recent synthetic resin varnish overlies the original varnish and has successtully brightened the picture. Inpaint is extremely minimal on this painting and includes a small point in the right sky approximately a 1/4 inch in size, and a few other isolated spots to 1/8 inch in size mainly confined nearer to the edges.The painting was glue lined in a restoration dated from the mid-20th century. The lining was completed to support natural aging cracks in the paint layer. Slight cupping of the paint layer between cracks is only visible in raking light. The cracks are currently stable and are not visually distracting. Paint impasto is minimal in this painting and has only been slightly impressed by the lining. The original tacking edges were removed when the painting was lined. It is possible that the irrrage was very slightly reduced in size; but if that were the case. it is likely that less than a 1/4 inch on each side was removed, which would have made an original size of 22 x 48 inches. The painting is stable and certainly can be exhibited its current condition. Alternatively, the painting could be lightly cleaned being careful to leave a protective veneer of the original varnish intact in order to remove the discolored minor retouches in the sky. Re-lining of the painting is not necessary at this time.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

For the majority of his career, Alfred Jacob Miller lived and worked in Baltimore; however, his artistic success can be traced to his nearly six month expedition out West in 1837. William Drummond Stewart, a retired Captain of the British army and a Scottish nobleman, invited Miller to accompany him as the commissioned artist on a trip to the Rocky Mountains, where they traveled on what would become the Oregon Trail, to the annual fur trappers’ and traders’ rendezvous. The caravan, appropriately outfitted and comprised of 45 men and 20 carts, set out from Independence, Missouri in mid-May. Often leaving with the caravan’s hunters and sketching until the sun went down, Miller executed some 100 watercolor and pen-and-ink sketches during the expedition that he later reworked into finished watercolors and oils for a variety of patrons. While Karl Bodmer and George Catlin were the first artists to travel West, neither of them ranged as far as Miller or captured his distinct scenes.

The trip came to an end in early October and soon thereafter Miller established a studio in Baltimore and began work on a set of watercolor and oil sketches as well as oil paintings that would effectively summarize his western experience. By May 1839 Miller had completed 18 oil paintings, which he exhibited at Apollo Gallery in New York City, prior to shipping them to Stewart who had moved back to Scotland following the death of his father and brother. According to Lisa Strong, “The exhibition was well attended; Augustus Greele, the chairman of the exhibition committee, noted that the receipts of the exhibition had ‘more than doubled the amount of any former week since to the formation of the [Apollo] Association’ and that ‘the attraction continues to increase” (Lisa Strong, Sentimental Journey, The Art of Alfred Jacob Miller, p. 23).

Painted circa 1850, Caravan en Route [Sir William Drummond Stewart’s Caravan] depicts the early stage of the expedition, as the caravan crosses the vast prairie. At the center of the composition is Stewart, perched atop his white horse and dressed in a white buckskin suit, easily recognizable with his distinctive moustache and hook nose. The blazing orange hue of the sky typifies Miller’s working routine on the trail, as he realized quickly that his most dramatic scenes occurred near sunrise and sunset. According to Ron Tyler, “This is one of the few paintings that Miller finished of the prairie scenes” (Ron Tyler, Alfred Jacob Miller: Artist on the Oregon Trail, p. 109). Though Miller’s journey with Stewart was his only trip to the West, the sketches he produced and the images he observed would serve as the basis for many paintings throughout the remainder of his career. Miller’s works, which capture the idyllic, but vanishing, wilderness, reveal the rom♔anticism and enthusiasm with which he viewed the West.