When Stewart returned to Scotland as the lord of Murthly, he invited Clement to come with him, and they lived in the nearby Dalpowie Lodge, a retreat on the estate. Clement reportedly was unhappy in Scotland, so Stewart took him to London, where they lived in the family’s townhouse for a while, then embarked on an extended trip to the Adriatic, Constantinople, and Egypt.
By the fall of 1840, they were back at Murthly in time to welcome Miller, who arrived with all his sketches, some newly-finished oils, and a collection of Indian artifacts that he intended to use as props for additional paintings. He reported to his brother that “one of the best chambers in the castle was allotted to me, & a room next [to] the Library for a studio,” but that “Antoine, the famous Indian hunter…had been metamorphosed into a Scotch valet and waits on the table in a full suit of black.” Stewart had also bought Antoine a Highland suit (Miller estimated the cost at £50) so that he could attend the local parties in style.
Miller immediately set to work painting large canvases for the various nooks and walls of Murthly Castle, including this portrait of Antoine, whom Miller called “one of the noblest specimens of a Western hunter.” Miller pictured him in his beaded and fringed buckskin jacket and wearing a wide-brimmed, plumed hat set at a jaunty angle. Antoine rests his hand on the barrel of his hunting rifle, while the handle of his skinning knife is visible as it protrudes from his belt (Tyler, 2013, 51 – 55).
Ron Tyler
