Born in Staindrop, County Durham, England, and taught to paint by his father, Joseph, William Rickarby Miller immigrated to the United States by 1845 and settled in New York City after a brief stay in Buffalo, New York. Although he painted portraits when he needed the work, he is best known for his landscapes, especially in watercolor. Miller also worked as an illustrator for such publications as Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper, Gleasons’s Pictorial Drawing-Room Companion, and The New York Illustrated News. Miller exhibited at the National Academy of Design in New York from 1861 to 1876. His works are in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New-York Historical Society in New York.