Monsieur Frigot

In 1841 Millet was in his late 20s and living off portrait commissions in Normandy. That same year the town council of Cherbourg refused to pay him for a posthumous portrait of its late mayor, Javain, on the grounds that the likeness was not good enough. Private sitters were steadier work, and Monsieur Frigot came from that side of the trade. He was painted as one half of a pair, with a companion portrait of Madame Frigot the same size, the two made to hang together. They came apart later on the art market. Hers is now in the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. His turned up at auction out of a Swedish private collection and was bought by Jalo Sihtola, a Finnish engineer who collected paintings, and it came to Helsinki with his donation.