Francis Davis Millet
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Francis Davis Millet (November 3, 1848<ref name="Diary">Template:Citation.</ref> – April 15, 1912) was an American academic classical painter, sculptor, and writer who died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912.
Early life
[edit]Francis Davis Millet was born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Most sources give his date of birth as November 3, 1846, but a diary which he kept during his military service stated that November 3, 1864 was his 16th birthday, suggesting his year of birth was 1848.<ref name = "Diary" /> At age fifteen, Millet entered the 60th Massachusetts Infantry, first as a drummer and then a surgical assistant (helping his father, a surgeon) in the American Civil War.
He repeatedly pointed to his experience working for his father as giving him an appreciation for the vivid blood red that he frequently used in his early paintings. Millet graduated from Harvard with a Master of Arts degree. He worked as a reporter and editor for the Boston Courier and then as a correspondent for the Advertiser at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition.
Career
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In 1876, Millet returned to Boston to paint murals at Trinity Church in Boston with John LaFarge. He entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts at Antwerp, Belgium. He was the first student to win a silver medal in his first year; the following year he won a gold medal. In the Russo‐Turkish war of 1877–78, he was engaged as a war correspondent by the New York Herald, the London Daily News, and the London Graphic.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was decorated by Russia and Romania for his bravery under fire and his services to the wounded.
Millet became a member of the Society of American Artists in 1880, and in 1885 was elected as a member of the National Academy of Design, New York and as Vice-Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee. He was made a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and sat on the advisory committee of the National Gallery of Art. He was decorations director for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago in 1893, with claims he invented the first form of compressed air spraypainting to apply whitewash to the buildings, but the story may be apocryphal as contemporary journals note spraypainting had already been in use since the early 1880s.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> His career included work on a number of worlds' fairs, including Vienna, Chicago, Paris, and Tokyo, where he made contributions as a juror, administrator, mural painter/decorator, and adviser.<ref name="gaines">Gaines, Catherine S. A Finding Aid to the Francis Davis Millet and Millet Family Papers, 1858–1984 (bulk 1858–1955) in the Archives of American Art. The Francis Davis Millet And Millet Family Papers Online Template:Webarchive, Smithsonian Archives of American Art.</ref>
Millet was among the founders of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and was influential in the early days of the American Federation of Arts.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> He was instrumental in obtaining the appointment of Emil Otto Grundmann, an old acquaintance from his Antwerp days, as first head of the school.<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> Millet was involved with the American Academy in Rome<ref>Template:Citation.</ref> from its inception and served as secretary from 1904 to 1911. He was a founding member and vice chairman of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, serving from 1910 until his death in 1912.<ref>Thomas E. Luebke, ed., Civic Art: A Centennial History of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, 2013): Appendix B, p. 549.</ref> He died aboard the Titanic while traveling to New York City on Academy business.<ref name="gaines" />
As well as an artist, Millet was a writer and journalist. He translated Tolstoy and also wrote essays and short stories. Among his publications are Capillary Crime and Other Stories (1892),<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> The Danube From the Black Forest to the Black Sea (1892)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> and Expedition to the Philippines (1899).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> He was elected a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and was an honorary member of the American Institute of Architects.
A noted sculptor and designer, Millet designed the 1907 Civil War Medal at the request of the U.S. Army and United States War Department and the 1908 Spanish Campaign Medal.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He executed the ceiling of the Call Room of the US Custom House at Baltimore, Maryland.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Personal life
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Millet was close friends with Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Mark Twain, both of whom attended his 1879 wedding to Elizabeth ("Lily") Greely Merrill in Paris, France; Twain was Millet's best man. The couple had four children: Kate, Edwin, Laurence, and John.<ref>
Millet was acquainted with the famed American portraitist John Singer Sargent, who often used Millet's daughter Kate as a model. He was also close to the esteemed Huxley family.
Millet lived with Archibald Butt, who called him "my artist friend who lives with me," in a large mansion at 2000 G Street NW.<ref>"Maj. Butt's Home Sold". The Washington Post November 22, 1912.</ref> They were known for throwing large but spartan parties that were attended by members of Congress, justices of the Supreme Court, and President Taft himself.<ref name="Daily2">Davenport-Hines, Richard. "The History Page: Unsinkable Love". The Daily. March 20, 2012. Accessed 2012-05-18.</ref> There is some speculation that Butt and Millet were lovers. Historian Richard Davenport-Hines wrote in 2012:<ref name="Daily2"/>
Death
[edit]On April 10, 1912, Millet boarded the RMS Titanic at Cherbourg, France, bound for New York City. He was traveling with long-time friend Archibald Butt.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Millet was last seen helping women and children into lifeboats. His body was recovered after the sinking by the cable boat Mackay-Bennett and returned to East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, where he was buried in Central Cemetery.<ref>Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2 (Kindle Location 32543). McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. Kindle Edition.</ref>
Memorials
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In 1913, the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain was erected in Washington, D.C., in memory of Millet and his long-time friend Archibald W. Butt, with whom he shared a home.
A bronze bust in Harvard University's Widener Library also memorializes Millet.
In 2015, his murals were exhibited in Cleveland Ohio.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Gallery
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At the Inn, 1884, Union League Club, New York. Oil on canvas 25" × 30".
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A Cosey Corner, 1884, Metropolitan Museum of Art.
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An Autumn Idyll, 1892, The Brooklyn Museum.
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The Guitarist/Music in New Orleans. Oil on canvas 16" × Template:Frac". Private collection, Stawell, Australia
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Portrait of Samuel L Clemens (Mark Twain), 1877. Free Public Library, Hannibal, Missouri.
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Bookplate of Francis Davis Millet.
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Between Two Fires, 1892. Oil on canvas 36" × 29" Tate Gallery, London.
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See also
[edit]References
[edit]Further reading
[edit]External links
[edit]- Pages with broken file links
- 1848 births
- 1912 deaths
- 19th-century American painters
- 20th-century American painters
- Union army surgeons
- American male painters
- American muralists
- Artists from Massachusetts
- People from Mattapoisett, Massachusetts
- American war correspondents
- Harvard University alumni
- People of Massachusetts in the American Civil War
- Royal Academy of Fine Arts (Antwerp) alumni
- Deaths on the RMS Titanic
- Artists of the Boston Public Library
- 19th-century American male artists
- 20th-century American male artists