Keywords: Alfred Jacob Miller - Roasting The Hump Rib - Walters 37194036.jpg Once the meat is in camp it is turned over to John the cook and his preparation wrote Miller although simple in the extreme is perfection in itself With a stick sharpened at one end he skewers it lengthwise leaving about sixteen inches of the stick bare This part he plants in the ground near the fire inclining the meat inwardly at the top Gradually a crisp surface forms over the fat and as the roasting process goes on it is thus driven back into the meat without need of any basting When done it is a dish for an Emperor exceeding the flavor richness and juiciness of all other beef preparations But John was not the only one who knew how to prepare the hump rib as Miller shows here The hunters LaJeunesse Burrows and François have prepared that most delicate of treats and are roasting it around a smoldering fire After the meal the trappers would settle down for an evening of exchanging accounts of impossible deeds and Stewart would entrance them all with stories of his Napoleonic battles or of exotic and undreamed-of places This small watercolor prepared for William T Walters is similar in composition to the large oil painting that Miller made for Stewart although some of the individuals pictured are different In the large oil Antoine Clement is shown instead of LaJeunesse Pierre instead of François and Stewart is shown in the distance between 1858 1860 watercolor heightened with white cm 29 2 25 4 accession number 37 1940 36 11461 William T Walters Baltimore 1858-1860 by commission Henry Walters city Baltimore Walters Art Museum Henry Walters Commissioned by William T Walters 1858-1860 Alfred Jacob Miller An Artist on the Oregon Trail place of origin USA Walters Art Museum license 2D Beef ribs Alfred Jacob Miller An Artist on the Oregon Trail 19th-century watercolor paintings in the United States Cooking in art Paintings by Alfred Jacob Miller in the Walters Art Museum |