A Gentleman's Pursuits

Provenance:

Skinner, Boston, American and European Paintings, 14 May 2004, Lot 139 (with invoice)

Note:

Born in Mattapoisett, Massachusetts, Francis Davis Millet was a multitalented figure who was heavily involved in the spheres of arts and writing in the United States and Europe during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Throughout his career, Millet's work was widely commissioned, collected, and exhibited by a number of notable art institutions, organizations, and world's fairs. His influence on the development of the discipline of the arts during the turn of the century is evidenced by his contribution to the founding of the School of the Museum of Fine Ats, Boston and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, as well as his membership to numerous arts and letters societies in the United States and England, including the National Academy of Design, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the American Institute of Architects.

Millet died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 while en route to the United States on business for the American Academy in Rome. His death is memorialized with that of his long-time friend Archibald Butt in the Butt-Millet Memorial Fountain in Washington, D.C.