The Zouaves were a group of light infantery in the French army. Milliet was in Arles to recover from an illness he contracted in French Indochina (Vietnam). The Dutch artist and the French lieutenant became friends and Vincent van Gogh painted a dazzling portrait of the future lieutenant-colonel with the distintictive red hat of the Zouaves. The painting can be seen in the Kröller Müller museum in the Netherlands.
