Charles Henry Miller

Charles Henry Miller, N.A. (March 20, 1842 – January 21, 1922) was an artist and painter of landscapes from Long Island, New York. The American poet Bayard Taylor (1825–1878) called him, "The artistic discoverer of the little continent of Long Island."

Biography Miller was educated at Mount Washington Collegiate Institute and graduated in medicine at the New York Homeopathic Medical College in 1863 or 1864, receiving his diploma from the hand of William Cullen Bryant, then President of that institution. He then offered his services to our Government; but his homoeopathic faith proving a barrier, and meeting Captain Hutchinson of the once famous "Black Ball" line of packets, he accepted from him the position of surgeon on his ship, the Harvest Queen, sailing from New York to Liverpool. This vessel, though never renowned for fast voyages, as were so many of her sister clippers, was a noted emigrant ship ... In 1864, when our artist made his first and last voyage in her, common sailors were getting ninety dollars for the trip, and bounty jumping was frequently practised. Many desperadoes, attracted by the high rate of wages, shipped as foremast hands, and stirring scenes were enacted. A mutiny, which was luckily quelled without loss of life, broke out twice on the Harvest Queen; and Mr. Miller, among his other reminiscences of an eventful voyage, recalls a day when he was ranged beside the captain on the quarter-deck, revolver in hand, ready to aid in overcoming the mutineers ... When the ship reached New York on her return trip, two of the sailors were drowned in an attempt to escape from her; and the sketches made by Mr. Miller on board include one of a luckless and forlorn-looking seaman, standing at the wheel, who had jumped overboard, but was captured and severely beaten.

While the Harvest Queen was lying in the Liverpool docks, Miller took a flying trip to London, Scotland, and France, making numerous sketches. When he reached home again, his love of art, freshly kindled by the sight of some of the great art galleries of Europe, and the wonderful ocean scenes which he had attempted to draw on the voyage, proved itself too strong to be overcome. He abandoned medicine and returned to the practice of art in New York.

Before his graduation, Miller had occasionally painted pictures. In 1860, at the age of eighteen, he had exhibited The Challenge Accepted at the National Academy of Design, in New York City.

Miller lived in Queens at the summer estate, Queenslawn, originally purchased by his parents, Jacob (1803–1874) and Jane Taylor Miller (1806–1895). He went abroad again in 1867, spending three years as a pupil in the Bavarian Royal Academy at Munich under the instruction of Adolf Lier.

Legacy and honors In 1910 Miller founded the Queens Borough Allied Arts & Crafts Society. A New York City public school, Queens P.S. 33, was once named for him. 1878, gold medal awarded by the Massachusetts Charitable Association

Holding institutions Brigham Young University Art Museum, Salt Lake City, UT Brooklyn Institute Museum, Brooklyn, NY Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY Democratic Club, New York, NY Heckscher Museum of Art, Huntington, NY Long Island Museum, Stony Brook, NY Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY Nassau County Historical Society, Garden City, NY Nassau County Museum of Art, Glen Cove, NY National Academy of Design, New York, NY Parrish Art Museum, Southampton, NY Republican Club, New York, NY Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI.