A Difficult Duet

Date: 1886

Dimensions: Height: 60.96 cm (24 in.), Width: 91.44 cm (36 in.)

Medium: Painting – oil on canvas

Owner/Location: Private Collection

Description

The Millet’s both loved music and often held recitals and parties with musical entertainment. Frank also had a sharp humor.

Music was so much apart of the Millet home, especially when John Singer Sargent and Alma Strettell were there in 1886.

John Singer Sargent

Alma Strettell
1889

And it might have been songs written in the late 18th, early 19th century such as “Ye Shepherds Tell Me” by Joseph Mazzinghi played in their house which inspired paintings such as this.

Exhibitions / Provenance

Exhibitions:

Provenance:

Currently Unknown

Research / Publications

2001 Des Moines Register Laurie Mansfield, Register Staff Writer

Ruth and Henry Paine thought it would be a nice idea to buy some art for their local museum, the Charles H. MacNider Museum in Mason City.

Ruth Paine volunteered to help out at the MacNider when it opened in 1966. Later, she found herself giving tours while her husband, Henry, taught band at the junior high school.

When the small-town museum started the ambitious project of rounding out its collection of 19th-and 20th-century art, the Paines decided to help by buying “A Difficult Duet,” a rare 1886 oil on canvas by Francis Davis Millet, a Massachusetts artist who went down with the Titanic.

“Well, you don’t give the painting, you give the funding,” Ruth Paine explained. The painting was unveiled 2 weeks ago at a reception at the museum. Museum director Richard Leet, who constantly has his eye on auction catalogs and art magazines for potential finds, located the painting in a New York gallery last year.

The work satisfies the museum’s need for the historical genre, works that depict what life was like during a period of time, Leet said.

Ruth Paine thought it was a lovely painting -the kind of painting you think of as being in a museum, she said.

The subject matter, a couple playing musical instruments, complemented the Paines’ love of music. Ruth Paine plays piano and sings. Henry Paine plays bassoon.

Leet won’t say how much the museum paid for the painting or its estimated value. He wants visitors to see the painting, not dollar signs, he said.

The Iowa reception for the Millet was a simple affair. Ruth and a friend provided music. Leet made some remarks about Millet and the painting.

Certainly it was nothing like the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where “A Difficult Duet” was on loan from Mrs. C.M. Raymond, New York.

Things change. Now the painting will be displayed in the MacNider, courtesy of Mr. H. Paine and Mrs. R. Paine, Mason City. “It’s a very quiet picture,” Ruth Paine said, “Something I think will give enjoyment.”

Reporter Laurie Mansfield can be reached at mansfieldl@news.dmreg.com IOWA LIFE; Pg. 3E