# Fagerolles — His Masterpiece character guide

> Fagerolles in His Masterpiece by Émile Zola.

**Role:** supporting

**Also known as:** M. Fagerolles

**First appearance:** 0001-his-masterpiece

## Snapshot

A painter who has traded the struggle for a lacquered studio and a Legion of Honour, Fagerolles is what Claude might become if he ever learned to smile at the right people.

## Who they are

Fagerolles receives Claude in a house of tapestries, dragons, and a couch under a tent, decorated with the Legion of Honour and portraits priced at ten thousand francs. He affects weariness at being begged to exhibit, calls his Salon entry 'A Picnic,' and cannot meet Claude's fixed stare without losing countenance. His success, built on charm, timing, and Naudet's management, stands as the living rebuke to everything Claude believes about art, and the reader watches the two men measure each other across the little canvas on its ebony easel.

## Relationships

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_rivalry_

Claude and Fagerolles are former friends turned bitter rivals, as Fagerolles achieves commercial success by compromising the artistic ideals Claude holds sacred.

### [Jory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/jory)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Bongrand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/bongrand)

_professional_

Bongrand views Fagerolles with professional disdain, seeing him as a talented but commercially corrupt sellout.

### [Sandoz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/sandoz)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Sandoz are former friends whose relationship cools as Fagerolles prioritizes commercial success over artistic integrity.

### [Jory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/jory)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_rivalry_

Claude and Fagerolles are former friends turned bitter rivals, as Fagerolles achieves commercial success by compromising the artistic ideals Claude holds sacred.

### [Claude Lantier](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/claude_lantier)

_rivalry_

Claude and Fagerolles are former friends turned bitter rivals, as Fagerolles achieves commercial success by compromising the artistic ideals Claude holds sacred.

### [Bongrand](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/bongrand)

_professional_

Bongrand views Fagerolles with professional disdain, seeing him as a talented but commercially corrupt sellout.

### [Jory](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/jory)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Jory are close friends and allies, both pragmatic and ambitious, often scheming together for social and professional gain.

### [Sandoz](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/sandoz)

_friendship_

Fagerolles and Sandoz are former friends whose relationship cools as Fagerolles prioritizes commercial success over artistic integrity.

## In the story

### [His Masterpiece](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/his-masterpiece)

A rival artist who offers to help Claude get his painting hung, highlighting the theme of friendship and rivalry.

### [III](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/iii)

A cunning and gibing Parisian artist who chaffs the Salon and dreams of the Rome prize, while paying court to Claude's influence.

### [V](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/v)

Fagerolles joins Claude and Sandoz, pretending to help find Claude's painting while studying the public's reaction; he also comments on other works with ambiguous sarcasm.

### [Chapter VI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/vi)

Exhibits a painting at the Salon that Claude criticizes as a compromise between audacity and bourgeois taste.

### [Chapter VII](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/vii)

Attends Sandoz's dinner; shows humility toward Claude but is revealed as a cunning plagiarist who has softened his style for commercial success.

### [The Salon's Triumph and Humiliation](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/x)

Fagerolles is the center of attention at the Salon, basking in the success of his painting 'The Picnic,' which borrows from Claude's style but is softened for public approval.

### [Chapter XI](https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/chapters/xi)

Absent from the Thursday dinner; his fall from success is discussed bitterly by the group; involved in a lawsuit with dealer Naudet.

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters/fagerolles
- Book: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se
- All characters: https://www.betterreads.dev/discover/his_masterpiece_se/characters