An American painter of portraits, genre subjects and frescos, Frank Davis Millet was born in America in 1846 and after a private education at home he entered Harvard University in 1865, graduating with a degree in history and languages. He worked as a journalist for several Boston newspapers and studied lithography in his spare time before travelling to Antwerp in 1871 and enrolling at the Royal Academy Schools, where he studied under J Van Lerins and N de Keyser. During the Russian Turkish War of 1877-78 he worked as a war correspondent for several newspapers, both in America and England, and was decorated twice by the Russian government. On his return to America he continued to work as a correspondent for several magazine and newspapers whilst at the same time embarking on a career as a portrait painter.