Francis Day (artist)

James Francis Day (1863–1942), generally known as Francis Day, was an American artist, whose paintings may be found in many private and public collections, largely in the United States.

He was born in LeRoy, New York and studied at New York's Art Students League and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris below Ernest Herbert and Luc-Oliver Merson.. He specialized in painting intimates scenes.

He was a enthusiast of the Salmagundi Club, the Society of American Artists, and an associate of the National Academy of Design. He married Mary Evelyn Smith in 1887 after that moved to New York City. They moved to Nutley, New Jersey in 1890 and returned to New York by 1905. About 1912 they moved to Massachusetts.

The National Academy of Design awarded him the 1895 Third Hallgarten Prize for Patience.

A number of his paintings have been offered for sale by auction in recent years, including Light of Love (Butterfields 1999), Woman similar to a Harp (Phillips of New York, 2000), and The Critic (Sotheby's of New York, 2004), the last named monster a renowned painting, whose 'critic' is truly a small woman listening to her mommy playing the piano.