Francis, Henry Sayles, 1902-1994

Henry Sayles Francis, Sr.; born March 4, 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts; died January 4, 1994 in Springfield, Windsor, Vermont, United States. Resided in Walpole, NH. Parents George Tappan Francis and Frances Coren Brown.

<p>Henry Sayles Francis, a former curator of painting, prints and drawings at the Cleveland Museum of Art, died on Tuesday at Springfield (Vt.) Memorial Hospital. He was 91 and had lived in Walpole, N.Y., since retiring from the museum in 1967.</p>
<p>The cause was heart failure, the museum said in a written statement.</p>
<p>Mr. Francis was born in Boston in 1902. He earned a degree in art history from Harvard University and began his career as an assistant in the department of prints at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He became curator of paintings, prints and drawings at the Cleveland Museum in 1931 and held the position until his retirement.</p>
<p>During his 38 years at the museum, Mr. Francis was instrumental in building the collection of prints and drawings, acquiring, for example, drawings by Durer and Rembrandt, Tiepolo and Piazetta. He also oversaw the acquisition of such major paintings as Rubens's portrait of his wife Isabella Brant; Zurbaran's "Christ and the Virgin in the House at Nazareth," and Picasso's Blue Period work "La Vie."</p>
<p>Mr. Francis's wife, the former Frances Meriam Burrage, died in 1989. Their only child, Henry Sayles Francis Jr., died in 1990.</p>