Francis Melville

American 1832-1916

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Francis Melville established himself as a competent artist, whatever the medium—oil painting, sculpture, printmaking—or the subject matter. His landscapes and portraits were exhibited widely, notably at New York’s National Academy of Design and the highly esteemed, year-long Panama Pacific Exhibition in San Francisco in 1918.

Two of Melville’s etchings “Portrait of JQA Ward, Sculptor,” and “Window Seat,” gifts from the Chicago Society of Etchers, hang in the Smithsonian Art Museum, Washington DC.