Franklin Harrison Miller (1843-1911) Oil Painting

Description: Estate Find Franklin Harrison Miller, American (1843-1911) Oil Painting Still Life with Roses We offer a nineteenth century oil painting by Franklin Harrison Miller, a member of the Fall River School of artists in Massachusetts. The scene depicts a table scape with freshly cut roses in hues of red and white. The painting is on canvas. The painting is signed "F. Miller." at the lower right corner. The reverse stretcher retains an original framing supplier label for Frost & Adams at No. 37 Cornhill, Boston. Frost & Adams was established in 1869, so our painting dates from 1869-1911. "Waters", for Herman Floyd Waters (1904-1986) a previous owner, is written in chalk on the reverse side of the canvas. The stretched canvas measures 12" in height and 18" in width. The framing measures approximately 18" in height and 24" in width with a depth of 2 3/4". As seen in the photographs, the canvas is intact with no loss of paint and in original unrestored condition with surface grime consistent with age. Minor molding loss to the gilt frame. Miller studied under George Inness (1825-1894) and Benjamin Champney (1817-1907), a noted painter of White Mountain landscapes. We offer in a separate listing a landscape painting by Benjamin Champney, also from the Waters estate. BiographyBorn in Fall River in 1843, Franklin was the son of Southard Harrison Miller (1810-1895), a prominent Fall River contractor and leading citizen, and Esther G. Miller, née Peckham (1813-1892); he breathed his first, and last, in the family home on Second Street.Of his youth and formal education little is known; it was clearly a privileged upbringing, and he counted among his friends the scion of the city’s oldest families. Among his closest friends were: Bradford Matthew Chaloner Durfee (1843-1872), with whom he spent two years living in Paris in the 1860s – he studying art and “work[ing] hard in the galleries,” while Durfee socialized and reveled in the life of a wealthy American abroad; and Spencer Borden Sr. (1848-1921) – he, too, was studying in Paris at the Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers – and the pair travelled throughout Europe together.A wealthy father ensured that Franklin – “Frank” to his friends – was never the victim of the financial hardships endured by many artists. Of him, it was said: “Having plenty of the world’s goods, he was not forced to exert himself, but he was a steady worker and turned out many pictures.”In fact, he was a serious artist with excellent credentials and a master of the distinctly American school of landscape painting that developed in the last half of the 19th century, his style – neither Realist nor Impressionist – in sharp contrast to the almost photographic works produced by his Fall River contemporaries.He had established his first studio in Fall River by 1866 and was never without one for the remainder of his life. It is believed that his first art studies came under the tutelage of Robert Spear Dunning (1829-1905); the pair were life-long friends and shared a large studio in the Borden Block on South Main Street. The space was located on the third floor in the northeast corner of the building and was separated only by a curtain that was rarely drawn; it was a mecca for local artists and patrons who habitually gathered there. In addition, he maintained a home studio. The two men also briefly taught art and freehand drawing in the Fall River Evening Drawing School.Dunning’s portrait of Miller, painted in their shared studio in 1879, is a stellar example of the artist’s work; a depiction of a very close friend, it has an intimate quality not evident in Dunning’s many commissioned portraits of Fall River grandees. The painting descended in the Miller family and now hangs in the FRHS.Miller holds the distinction of being the only recognized member of the Fall River School – that is, a group of painters working in a similar style, in this case, that of Robert S. Dunning – to benefit from European study. It is, as yet, unknown at which Académie or in whose atelier he studied in Paris, but the experience he gained there manifested itself in looser brushwork and the use of impasto, especially evident and more pronounced in his mature works.In the United States, he studied with Benjamin Champney (1817-1907), a noted painter of White Mountain landscapes, and with the brilliant artist, George Inness (1825-1894), often referred to as the “father of American landscape painting.” Both artists had a strong impact on his work.Often described as “a diffident man who had little to say,” Miller “was a very kindly, likeable man, once one came to know him, but to know him one had to seek him out.” Decidedly reserved in disposition, he preferred that his paintings spoke for him.The artist worked in oil, watercolor, and charcoal, and among his output were still life and landscapes paintings. It was said that he did some portraiture, but I have not yet seen any examples of the latter. It was in landscapes that he specialized; “outdoor work was his forte.” Of his plein air work one of his contemporaries – an artist, unfortunately unidentified – noted: “He was a landscape and marine painter and a very good one.”A fine, tribute, as understated as the man.Franklin Harrison Miller died in Fall River in 1911. Written by Michael Martens, June 24, 2020, Curator at Fall River Historical Society

Price: 2450 USD

Location: Corpus Christi, Texas

End Time: 2025-01-19T18:19:54.000Z

Shipping Cost: N/A USD