UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

The Corresponence of James McNeil Whistler
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George Francis Miles, 1852-1894

Nationality: English
Date of Birth: 1852.04.22
Place of Birth: Bingham
Date of Death: 1894.06.15
Place of Death: Brislingtomn Asylum, Bristol

Identity:

George Francis ('Frank') Miles was a painter. He was the grandson of Philip John Miles (1773-1845), an English merchant, politician and collector, who was elected MP for Bristol in 1820.

Life:

Miles specialised in painting portraits of women and in genre scenes that, whilst enjoying a certain popularity, did not allow a true expression of his talents.

Miles was a great admirer of JW and frequented his studio in Tite Street. In fact, he had a studio just across the road. According to the Greaves family, Oscar Wilde, Miles and JW had a song and dance act in John Hollingshead's farce The Grasshopper at the Gaiety Theatre in London in 1878/y9.

Bibliography:

Hollingshead, John, My Lifetime, 2 vols, London, 1895; Hollingshead, J., Gaiety Chronicles, London, 1898; Hollingshead, J., Good Old Gaiety, London, 1903; Young, Andrew McLaren, Margaret F. MacDonald, Robin Spencer and Hamish Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler, New Haven and London, 1980.