Lot 409: Francis Davis Millet (1848-1912) American. A Head

Francis Davis Millet (1848-1912) American. A Head Study of a Man, with a Moustache, Oil on Canvas, Signed on the reverse, 22" x 16". Notes; American artist, was born at Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, on the 3rd of November 1846. He was a drummer boy with the Union forces in the Civil War; graduated from Harvard College in 1869; and in 1871 entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp, where he studied under Van Lerius and De Keyser. In 1873 he was made secretary of the Massachusetts commission to the Vienna Exposition. During the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78 he was correspondent of the London Daily News and Graphic, and of the New York Herald. On his return he was made a member from the United States of the International Art Jury at the Paris Exposition of 1878. He was director of decorations at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893, and in 1898 he went to Manila as war correspondent for The Times and for Harper's Weekly. In 1880 he became a member of the Society of American Artists, and in 1885 was elected to full membership in the National Academy of Design, New York, and was for one term its vice-president; he became a member also of the American Water Color Society and of the Institute of Painters in Oil Colours, London. As a decorative artist his work may be seen at Trinity Church, Boston; the Bank of Pittsburgh; and the Capitol at St Paul, Minnesota. His pictures are in many public collections: among them are A Cosy Corner, in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; At the Inn, in the Union League Club, New York; and Between two Fires, in the Tate Gallery, London. He also wrote essays and short stories, and an English version of Tolstoy's Sebastopol (1887); and among his publications are The Danube (1891), Capillary Crime and other Stories (1892), and Expedition to the Philippines (1899). Francis Millet was the host of a small group of artists, including Americans, who congregated in Broadway at the end of the 19th Century. Francis Davis Millet lived at both Farnham House and Russell House. The group included John Singer Sargent whose painting 'Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose' was painted in Broadway. Francis Davis Millet was lost on the Titanic in 1912.