Millet, Francis Davis

Millet, Francis Davis (mĭlā`), 1846–1912, American illustrator, painter, and journalist, b. Mattapoisett, Mass. He had been a drummer boy in the Civil War before going to college. As a correspondent, Millet covered the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78 for the New York Herald and the London Daily News and Graphic. He was war correspondent in the Philippines in 1898 for the London Times and for Harper's Weekly. His mural paintings, for which he was later well known, include Evolution of Navigation (Customhouse, Baltimore). Of his genre pictures, A Cozy Corner and An Old-Time Melody are in the Metropolitan Museum, and Between Two Fires is in the Tate Gallery, London. He became a member of the National Academy in 1885 and was first secretary of the American Academy at Rome. Millet lived in England much of his later life; he died in the sinking of the Titanic.