Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Now, Doctor, - Do Please Tell Me
(18th and 19th Centuries )
Baltimore artist, Alfred Jacob Miller was a prolific sketcher. He filled many journals with drawings and captions from the time he was studying in Paris and Rome (1833) until the 1870's. In 1969 a collection of 100 of these sketches was generously donated to the Walters Art Museum by J. William Middendorf II. The interests of Miller are clearly reflected in these sketches: the theater (a large portion being quick figure drawings of the Ravel Pantomime Troupe), childhood memories, Baltimore scenery, and witty scenes of characters. (See The Walters Art Gallery Bulletin, April, 1969, Vol. 21, No. 7, Pages 3-4).
"'Now, Doctor - do please tell me, in plain terms what is the matter?' 'Why you see, my dear Madam, there is a concatenation of pyrosis, cardialgia & gastrodynia - we must resort to something that is analeptic, discutient and somnolific, or else we shall have malignant exanthemata, petechiar & peripneumony - Please recollect this.'" -Miller
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
L. Vernon Miller, by inheritance; Kennedy Galleries, New York [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Mr. and Mrs. J. William Middendorf II, New York; Walters Art Museum, 1973, by gift.
Exhibitions
| 2004 | Recollections of a Baltimore Artist: Sketches by Alfred Jacob Miller (1810-1874). The Walters Art Museum, Baltimore. |
| 1996 | A Baltimore Watchman: An Exhibition of Drawings by Alfred Jacob Miller. Government House, Annapolis. |
| 1994-1995 | Private Lives: Nineteenth Century American Genre Drawings. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
| 1988 | Alfred Jacob Miller: Maryland and the West. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore; Washington College, Chestertown; Frostburg State University, Frostburg; Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington, Rockville. |
| 1984 | Alfred Jacob Miller: Watercolors and Drawings. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Geographies
USA (Place of Origin)
Measurements
H: 15 5/16 x W: 12 9/16 in. (38.9 x 31.9 cm)
Credit Line
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. J. William Middendorf II, 1973
Location in Museum
Not on view
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
37.2510.8