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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. In 1879 he married Elizabeth Merrill in Paris, and they went on to have three children. In 1882 Millet returned to Europe and the following year he came to Broadway and took up residence at Farnham House, where he lived with his family for the next quarter of a century. Frank Davis Millet was a close friend of the outstanding American artist John Singer Sargent, and was closely involved with a small colony of artists who worked in Broadway towards the end of the 19th century. Sadly Millet’s artist career was cut short when he lost his life on the ill-fated ‘Titanic’ |
