DOI issue:
No. 190 (December, 1912)
DOI article:Price, C. Matlack: The late Francis David Millet-notes on the decorative panels in the Cleveland post office
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.43451#0400
The Late Francis Davis Millet
whole picture rings true
by reason of the perfect
accuracy of every smallest
detail of architecture, fur-
niture and costume.
Although Millet’s signa-
ture appears on many easel
pictures, it is hard to say
whether he is better known
through this or through his
mural painting. He acted
as superintendent of the
decorations of the World’s
Fair in Chicago in 1892-
93, and those who visited
the buildings will remem-
ber his charming lunettes
in the loggia of the Liberal
Arts Building, and the dec-
oration of the ceiling of the
New York State Building.
In the Baltimore Cus-
toms House Millet painted
a series of decorative pan-
els of various types of
ships, and in the new
post-office in Cleveland he
decorated the post-mast-
er’s official suite with a
remarkable series of paint-
ings illustrative of the
many vehicles for mail
distribution over all the
THE ARABIAN MAIL CARRIER BY F. D. MILLET
THE CLEVELAND POST-OFFICE
world. One is fortunate in being able to illustrate
a number of these panels, of which an analysis will
only bring out more forcibly the truth of the
statement that Millet was a lover of detail and
exacting in his accuracy.
The last work which he had in hand, and which
was lost forever in the sinking of the 5. S. Titanic,
consisted of a complete set of working sketches for
the decoration of the New Bedford Public Library
—a set of panels illustrative of the history and
development of the whale-fishery industry, native
and characteristic of the town.
In the panels decorating the Cleveland post
office Millet went into many conferences with the
architect, Arnold W. Brunner, for the purpose of
evolving compositions which would best conform
with the design of the rooms. Here his capacity
for detail appeared in his conscientious study of
the design of the ornamental borders enframing
the various panels, while it found its fullest
expression in the paintings themselves.
His intention, in which he succeeded, was to
leave for posterity a series of strictly accurate his-
toric documents rather than a collection of vague
symbols. The express train, carrying fast mail, is
not merely a picture of a train—it is a picture, one
might almost say a -portrait, of the famous
“Twentieth Century Limited.”
In England the scene is laid in Stratford-on-
Avon, with Shakespeare’s house in the back-
ground. The postman is unlocking a “pillar-
box,” to take the mail. He could be mistaken for
no one but an English post-man, and the portion
of his bicycle which shows in the picture is an
English bicycle, accurate in every detail. The
French facteur is no less characteristic, and in the
same group are shown the Norwegian mail cart
and the Belgian “post-girl.”
It was to the more picturesque methods of
letter carrying that Millet would seem to have
desired to devote the larger panels—such as the
weather-beaten mail coach of the early days of
xxxvi
whole picture rings true
by reason of the perfect
accuracy of every smallest
detail of architecture, fur-
niture and costume.
Although Millet’s signa-
ture appears on many easel
pictures, it is hard to say
whether he is better known
through this or through his
mural painting. He acted
as superintendent of the
decorations of the World’s
Fair in Chicago in 1892-
93, and those who visited
the buildings will remem-
ber his charming lunettes
in the loggia of the Liberal
Arts Building, and the dec-
oration of the ceiling of the
New York State Building.
In the Baltimore Cus-
toms House Millet painted
a series of decorative pan-
els of various types of
ships, and in the new
post-office in Cleveland he
decorated the post-mast-
er’s official suite with a
remarkable series of paint-
ings illustrative of the
many vehicles for mail
distribution over all the
THE ARABIAN MAIL CARRIER BY F. D. MILLET
THE CLEVELAND POST-OFFICE
world. One is fortunate in being able to illustrate
a number of these panels, of which an analysis will
only bring out more forcibly the truth of the
statement that Millet was a lover of detail and
exacting in his accuracy.
The last work which he had in hand, and which
was lost forever in the sinking of the 5. S. Titanic,
consisted of a complete set of working sketches for
the decoration of the New Bedford Public Library
—a set of panels illustrative of the history and
development of the whale-fishery industry, native
and characteristic of the town.
In the panels decorating the Cleveland post
office Millet went into many conferences with the
architect, Arnold W. Brunner, for the purpose of
evolving compositions which would best conform
with the design of the rooms. Here his capacity
for detail appeared in his conscientious study of
the design of the ornamental borders enframing
the various panels, while it found its fullest
expression in the paintings themselves.
His intention, in which he succeeded, was to
leave for posterity a series of strictly accurate his-
toric documents rather than a collection of vague
symbols. The express train, carrying fast mail, is
not merely a picture of a train—it is a picture, one
might almost say a -portrait, of the famous
“Twentieth Century Limited.”
In England the scene is laid in Stratford-on-
Avon, with Shakespeare’s house in the back-
ground. The postman is unlocking a “pillar-
box,” to take the mail. He could be mistaken for
no one but an English post-man, and the portion
of his bicycle which shows in the picture is an
English bicycle, accurate in every detail. The
French facteur is no less characteristic, and in the
same group are shown the Norwegian mail cart
and the Belgian “post-girl.”
It was to the more picturesque methods of
letter carrying that Millet would seem to have
desired to devote the larger panels—such as the
weather-beaten mail coach of the early days of
xxxvi