TitleFrancis Davis Millet
Artist
Augustus Saint-Gaudens
(American, 1848 - 1907)
Date1879
MediumPlaster relief
DimensionsOverall (Relief): 10 1/2 × 7 1/16 × 1 1/4 in.
Overall (Plexiglas vitrine): 14 1/2 × 12 3/4 × 4 1/8 in.
Credit LineNational Academy of Design, New York, Gift of the estate of George W. Maynard, 1924
Object number97-S
Label TextMillett and Saint-Gaudens probably first met in 1876 when they assisted John LaFarge in the decoration of Trinity Church. This portrait is typical of those the sculptor began executing in Paris in the late 1870s of friends and fellow artists. The date in the inscription is that of Millet's marriage to Elizabeth Greely Merrill, which presumably took place at Saint-Gaudens Montmartre house, a gathering place for American artists in Paris. Saint-Gaudens and Samuel Clemens served as witnesses and, the portrait of the groom undoubtedly was created as a wedding gift. There are nine extant versions of this work. The original, or another early version, was one of five portraits Saint-Gaudens exhibited at the Paris Salon in 1880. Millet lent his version to the Metropolitan Museum of Art's 1908 memorial exhibition of Saint-Gaudens's work. Another cast was among the six works by Saint-Gauden's included in the Academy's annual exhibition of 1908.
The Academy's plaster is unusual in its inscription, which is more informal than that of the bronze versions in including the phrase in English: "in souvenier of the eleventh of March 79 at Montmartre." suggesting it might be the original plaster, or a casting from it. George Maynard, in whose possession the work was at his death, probably acquired it directly from Saint-Gaudens, as he was a friend of both the sculptor and the portrait subject. He had accompanied Millet on an extended European trip in 1873, and likely came to know Saint-Gaudens when he worked with La Farge on the decoration of Trinity Church. Saint-Gaudens had executed a low-relief portrait of Maynard (Century Association, New York) in 1877. Maynard also donated to the Academy in 1914 a cast of Saint-Gaudens's hand, now lost, "from the original in my possession made for me by Louis St. Gaudens in 1876."
