Monsieur Frigot

Millet's portrait of Monsieur Frigot from 1841 was painted in Cherbourg during the early years of his career, when portrait commissions from the provincial bourgeoisie of Normandy provided his primary income before he relocated to Paris. Frigot appears to be a member of the professional or administrative class of Cherbourg, the Norman port city where Millet had his first training under Paul Dumouchel and where he developed the solid academic foundation that supported his later innovations. The directness of the characterization—the sitter's confident bearing, the frank gaze, the tonal modeling derived from Millet's study of Dutch portraiture—shows the confident craft of a young painter already in command of his chosen tradition. These early provincial portraits are essential documents of a formative period in Millet's career that his later Barbizon fame has tended to obscure.

The portrait demonstrates Millet's competent academic technique in his early portrait work, with careful tonal modeling and a restrained palette. The sitter's features are rendered with directness and psychological attention.