"FIGURE APPEARING FOR PEOPLE ON THE DOCK" BY: RICHARD EDWARD MILLER. AMERICAN (1875-1943). OIL ON BOARD. SUBJECT SIZE: 28" X 32". OVERALL SIZE: 32.5" X 36.5". Possibly "The Saint's Departure". Oil on board. Signed lower left, framed. Notes: Mary Louise Kane wrote a letter on the verso containing: "while not given to religious themes in his painting, Miller would have had some impetus to resort to one in 1928. His only child, his daughter Elsbeth (born in 1909) died on January 14 of that year. This was such a severe blow to Miller that he is said to have attempted to contact her after her death via Spiritualist seances. The dolorous line of people lined up on the pier, with hunched bacaks and heads in hands, certainly conveys deep sadness. The setting of this painting is Provincetown, Massachusetts, Miller's home from 1917 until his death in 1943. The hills in the background are identical to those he painted in Cape Cod, 1932. The sailboat carrying the haloed-figure is the kind of broad-beamed sloop used by Provincetown fisherman. The dry, crusty texure of the painting as well as its gray tonality is characterisitc of of much of Miller's painting in Provincetown. The only other overtly religious work by Miller that I am aware of is the Reredos (behind the Altar) he painted for the Episcopal Church in Provincetown - The Triumphal Entry - in 1933-35 as a memorial to his daughter. The procession includes many figures with haloes". She also stated "this painting could be "The Saint's Departure", which Miller exhibited at the 14th Annual Exhibition of the Provincetown Art Association, July 29-September 8, 1928, No. 38 in the catalogue".

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