THE MURALS OF FRANCIS DAVIS MILLET

Francis Davis Millet was born in 1846 in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts. At the age of fifteen during the Civil War, Frank served in the Union Army as a drummer boy in his father’s regiment. Millet received his master's degree in modern languages and literature from Harvard in 1869, and began his career as a writer and editor for several Boston newspapers. His interest in art led him to sail for Europe to enroll at the Royal Academy of Art in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1871. Millet's paintings were renown for his meticulous researching of costumes and historic detail, and his murals can be found in many buildings of the period including the U.S. Customs House in Baltimore, the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Federal Building and Cleveland Trust Company in Cleveland, Ohio. He became a member of the National Academy of Design in America in 1885, and was appointed by Daniel H. Burnham to serve as superintendent of decoration for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Millet was also instrumental in founding the American Academy in Rome, and served as its first secretary. He was returning to America with his friend Major Archibald Butt in 1912 aboard the Titanic. Both men were lost in the sinking.