MK1SSONIKR, JKAN LOUIS KIINEST. 



Kencs in the life of "The Old Bachelor." 



AlM.iil lln- -a time he drew three desigi. 



tin- Bible nl I In- Sii-nr Ka\ mond," published in 

 \-\>r i In- Discoursed!! I'niven-al History." 

 nl-u published by dinner. In- drew tin- CILTI. 



. Si. I'aul, iititl Charlemagne, and many 

 head and tail pieces and ornamental letter-. He 

 liluM rated a m-\v edition of Lamartine's "Chute 

 d'un An::.'," '"it this was before the appearance 

 iroiguat. and tin- Mocks of .Meis*onicr's 

 ear!n-i wi.rks, sent to England to be engraved. 

 1 l.y M. Burty to have been " massacred." 

 Hr fiirni-hed two designs for an edition of "Orlan- 

 do Kurioso," 43 for a " I'aul and Virginia," and 

 siide-iuns reproduced in wood, with OIK- on steel, 

 for tin- " Chauiniere Indifiinc," issued by M. 

 ("urnier in IN''S. Meissonier's work in tin- latter 

 volume includes landscapes, plants, and foliage, 

 and ornamental letters as well as figures. A 

 vignette landscape, "The Valley of the Tomb," 

 won especial praise for Meissonier from his fel- 

 low-artists. To M. dinner's official account of 

 the removal of the remains of Napoleon I from 

 St. Helena to Paris Meissonier contributed two 

 illustrations, the "Entrance into Havre" and 

 " The Quays at Rouen." This was in 1840. From 

 1841-'43 Meissonier regularly contributed de- 

 signs, figure drawings, head and tail pieces. 

 and ornamental letters to M. Gunner's serial 

 publication " Les Francais peints par aux- 

 mcmes." Two children's books published in 

 is|.~ were illustrated by Meissonier, and he exe- 

 cuted 10 drawings, engraved on wood, for 

 ''Lazarello de Tonnes." He also furnished some 

 compositions for the " Comedie Humaine" of 

 Balzac. 



In after years Meissonier's work as an illustra- 

 tor was almost forgotten until biographers and 

 collectors began to attach to it an importance 

 due in their eyes to his swelling fame as a painter. 

 Yet this work has a marked value in itself, and 

 it is of significance because it embodies an in- 

 fluence upon his art. In drawing on the block 

 for the wood enirraver he was compelled to fur- 

 nish most careful execution and draughtsman- 

 ship most accurate in details. Of necessity his 

 subjects were rendered in miniature. The books 

 which he illustrated and the old-time costumes 

 which he studied undoubtedly exercised some 

 influence iipon the choice of subjects for his 

 paintingi. 



His work as an illustrator antedated but a lit- 

 tle his ifi'/mf as a painter. Of " The Visitors." 

 owned by Sir Richard Wallace, Meissonier wrote : 

 11 Mv first picture, exhibited in 1833 or 1884. 

 bought for a hundred francs by the Society of 

 the Friends of Art at, Paris, and adjudged to M. 

 Poturle, who has always kept. it. After his 

 death it wns bought by' Sir Richard Wallace." 

 The picture represents an old gentleman receiv- 

 ing two visitors, all in the costume of James 1 

 of England, and is said to be remarkable, not 

 so much for the detail, ns for the Rembrandt- 

 e<.jiie management of lights. In 1836 Meisso- 

 nier exhibited "The Chess Players" and " The 

 Little Messenger," which, according to Theophile 

 (lautier. "attracted at once a crowd of admirers, 

 and in which the artist struck his true line as 

 the conscientious and skillful painter of minia- 

 ture subjects." This was a new departure in 

 the French art of that day. Like his first work. 



these two pictures were old for only l'*i franc* 

 apiece, but by them tin- nrtict won-d u hit. Ik- 

 followed it up with picture* of smoker-, reader*. 

 chess players, and sentinels. Says one writer: 

 Hi- earlier stvle. and, us some think, hi 

 was a frank study of character and costume for 

 its own sake. He painted pictures without riy 

 thought of a motive, for nothing but the delight 

 of representing simple subjects witli Minirily 

 and force. The figures that then sat to his im- 

 agination were topers, chess players, serenading 

 cavaliers, bibliophiles ensconced in snug corner* 

 of seventeenth-century libraries, and so on." 

 .Much attention was bestowed uiion McN.-onicrV 

 pictures in the Salon of 1KJO. 'I IM-SC wen- "The 

 Doctor" and "The Monk at the Bedside," both 

 considered to have been Umpired by " Paul and 

 Virginia." which the artist wns then illustrating, 

 and both "remarkable for the expression of an 

 intensity of sympathy which has ntwequently 

 disappeared from Meissonier's works." Of the 

 same date is the first " Smoker," and a little later 

 "A Beer Drinker." In the Salons of the next 

 ten years Meissonier was represented by a simi- 

 lar class of studies. "The Reader "of 1840 is 

 one of the more famous. " The Skittle Players" 

 ( La Partie des Boules"), exhibited in 1849. is 

 counted as one of the artist's masterpieces. His 

 fame was already established. ~ The third medal 

 awarded him in 1840 was followed by a second 

 medal in 1841, first medal in 1843 and 1848. and 

 the cross of the Legion of Honor in 1846. He 

 had become a shining mark for the critics of the 

 old school, who accused him of always "con- 

 templating nature through the small end of a 

 telescope," and of studying "stuffs, gilding, in- 

 teriors, and a still life to which living nature is 

 only an accessory." But Meissonier had already 

 gained a large popular following. 



Jn the famous Salon of 1853, which contained 

 Delacroix's " Pilgrims of Emmaus " and Rosa 

 Bonheur's " Horse Fair," Meissonier, among 

 other pictures, exhibited the well-known ex- 

 ample " The Bravos" and a panel painting of a 

 subject from the ' Decameron," noteworthy from 

 the circumstance, rare in Meissonier's works, of 

 its presenting several female figures. "An In- 

 cident of Civil War," dated 1852, and " Mo- 

 reau and Dessoles before Hohenlinden," dated 

 1853, were among the artist's first military sub- 

 jects of importance. At the Universal Exhibi- 

 tion of 1855, where he received the "grand 

 medal," Meissonier was represented by four panel 

 paintings, small, of course, but up to that time 

 ins masterpieces. They were " La Rixe " ("The 

 Tavern Brawl." familiar through colored prints), 

 "Les Bravos." " La Lectiirechez Diderot," and 

 " The Skittle Players.'' One writer has said that 

 Meissonier painted the "Diderot" toconfutethe 

 critics, who declared him equal only to studies, 

 never to historic work; that he painted the 

 " Portrait, of the Sergeant," a subject in full 

 out-of-door lig'it. to answer those who said that 

 he could only paint interiors; and that " La Rixe" 

 wa* his reply to those who claimed he could 

 never paint movement. The last picture wns 

 presented by Napoleon to the Prince Consort 

 of England. Yet critics who had a right to 

 be heard protested against the tendency personi- 

 fied by Meissonier. Said one: " The Exposition 

 Univenelle finds the new school of the Trivial 



