502 



MEISSON1ER, JEAN LOUIS ERNEST. 



denying art, genius, inspiration, poesy, to hold to 

 an impossible cult of reality." 



At about this time Meissonier began to paint 

 pictures a little larger in size, but his perfection 

 of execution and finish remained unimpaired. 

 In 1856 he was made an officer of the Legion of 

 Honor. In 1857 his " Confidence," called by 

 Gautier "a pearl and a marvel among pictures," 

 and his "Amateur in a Studio " were first exhibit- 

 ed. The "Soldiers at Cards," painted in 1858, 

 was sold by the artist for $5,000, and sold in this 

 city in 1876 for $11,500. The Emperor Na- 

 poleon III began to bestow liberal commis- 

 sions upon Meissonier, who visited Italy once or 

 twice to secure sketches for " The Emperor at 

 the Battle of Solferino," a picture long an- 

 nounced, but not exhibited until the Salon of 

 1864. This was the first of a series of eight 

 pictures projected by the artist to illustrate the 

 " Napoleonic cycle." In 1860 a remarkable loan 

 exhibition of modern works was held in Paris, 

 at which Meissonier was most favorably rep- 

 resented. In 1861 he was elected a member 

 of the Academie des Beaux Arts, succeeding 

 Peyol. M. Chesneau and other thoughtful writ- 

 ers began to analyze the success of Meissonier as 

 more than a change in fashion as a significant 

 development in French civilization. In 1861 he 

 exhibited the " Portrait of Madame T.," his first 

 portrait of a lady. To the English International 

 Exhibition of 1862 Meissonier contributed four 

 pictures, unnoticed in Mr. Palgrave's introduc- 

 tion to the catalogue of the French school. In 

 the same year the "Napoleon in the Campaign 

 of Prance " was shown in Paris and " The 

 Halt " was finished for the Due de Morny. The 

 Salon of 1864 contained the "Solferino" and 

 "The Retreat of 1814." For the latter picture 

 Meissonier had the coat worn by Napoleon I 

 copied by a tailor " with a Chinese exactitude." 

 He put the garment on himself, mounted a 

 wooden horse in his studio, saddled like the Em- 

 peror's steed, and passed hours in studying his 

 figure and the fall of the skirts in a mirror. At 

 another time he moved his wooden horse to the 

 housetop during a snow-storm, and while the 

 flakes whitened his coat and the cold changed 

 his face to a livid hue he patiently sketched the 

 effects which he saw in the mirror before him. 

 In his studio he had a miniature landscape 

 made and strewn with white powder, represent- 

 ing snow, through which he drew models of 

 tumbrels and heavy wagons, that he might study 

 the furrows and the fall of the snow. In his 

 work and in his painstaking capacity for the 

 closest application and study Meissonier was in- 

 defatigable. The jurors at the Salon of 1864 

 refused to award the "grand medal" to the 

 painter of those remarkable pictures, and were 

 soundly rated by Edmond About and other crit- 

 ics. Probably the best known of Meissonier's 

 Works, certainly of his Napoleonic pictures, is 

 the " 1807," " a page of history, but unlike the 

 '1814,' a page of triumph.' Upon this painting 

 the artist worked for fifteen years, and it remains, 

 we believe, the largest of his works. He mod- 

 eled all the horses in wax and every figure was 

 drawn from life. This is the picture for which 

 the late A. T. Stewart paid f 60,000. At the sale 

 of the Stewart collection. x in 1887, this picture 

 was purchased by Judge Henry Hilton for $66,- 



000 and presented to the Metropolitan Museum 

 of Art. In the last years of his life he painted 

 a large water color of the same subject for an 

 English print publu her. In 1866 Meissonier paint- 

 ed the " Marshal Saxe and Staff," sold for $8 - 

 600 at a New York sale in 1876. 



The year 1867 may be regarded as bringing the 

 culmination of Meissonier's public triumphs. In 

 that year the International Exhibition, held in 

 Paris, included a magnificent fine-arts section, 

 and all the ait critics of Europe gathered for 

 the fray. Meissonier were represented by 14 

 pictures. He received one of the eight grand 

 prizes, and when the prizes was presented by the 

 Emperor his ''Battle of Solferino" formed the 

 center of the "Art Trophy " erected in the space 

 cleared for the ceremony. The same year he 

 was made commander of "the Legion of Honor. 

 English critics at the exhibition spoke of Meis- 

 sonier's " heartlessness " as compared with fidou- 

 ard Frere or Israels. Said one : " Wonderfully 

 minute are the works of Meissonier. and they 

 convey a great number of facts in a very small 

 compass. But, after all, what are these facts! 

 What does he really tell us of the joys and sor- 

 rows, hopes and fears, loves and hates of human 

 kind I Much as we admire him, does he ever 

 tone-hour hearts?" But this exhibition showed 

 clearly that Meissonier, although his position 

 was unrecognized by many critics, had become 

 the chief figure in French art. At the out- 

 break of the Franco-Prussian War Meissonier, 

 who had been nominally attached to the Em- 

 peror's staff, was made colonel of foot regi- 

 ment, and it is said, among other adventures, 

 that he narrowly escaped being shut up in Metz 

 with Bazaine. The exhibition of the Wallace 

 collections in London in 1872 gave the pjiiglish a 

 better opportunity for making acquaintance with 

 Meissonier, and at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873 

 the artist won fresh laurels. In 1877 he sent to 

 the Salon a portrait of Dumas. He also painted 

 a portrait of Mr. Vanderbilt, and one of Mrs. 

 J. W. Mackay, whose dissatisfaction with her 

 portrait gave rise to an acrimonious controversy. 

 Out of this affair grew the Meissonior Exhibi- 

 tion of May, 1884, which was designed by the 

 friends of the artist to be a " vindication." This 

 exhibition contained 155 pictures, about one 

 third of the artist's work, but it can not be said 

 to have presented his peculiar talent in any new 

 light. It afforded, however, a valuable oppor- 

 tunity, since for many years of his life Meis- 

 sonier rarely exhibited in the Salon. His next 

 conspicuous appearance before the public was in 

 the controversy among French artists, which led 

 to the establishment of a new or rival Salon in 

 1890? Meissonier was a leader among the seced- 

 ers, and exhibited a picture called " Octobre, 

 1806." So far as his art was concerned, Meis- 

 sonier's industry remained unabated to the close 

 of his life, but his execution grew harder and 

 more constrained, and his coloring more harsh 

 and metallic in quality. 



Meissonier's etchings are not numerous. The 

 more important are : " La Sainte Table," " L'Ad- 

 dresse du luthier Vuillaume." li Le Petit Fu- 

 meur," " Le Vieux Fumeur," ' Les Apprets du 

 Duel," " Les Pecheurs," "II Signor Annebale," 

 "Le? Reitres," "Le Sergent," and " M. Polichi- 

 nelle." He used an extremely fine point in his 



