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 [ 33U ] 
 
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 [343]'" 
 
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is! 
 
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PORTRAIT OF MEISSONIEH BY HIMSELF LOUVRE, PAHIS 
 
 Meissonier has left us several portraits of himself, of which this is one of the latest. 
 It was painted in 1889, two years before his death, when he was seventy-four years 
 old, and shows him in a fur-lined red robe, seated in a throne-like chair. The pic- 
 ture measures about a foot and a half high by nearly two feet wide. It has lately 
 been transferred from the Luxembourg Gallery to the Louvre, Paris. A description 
 of Meissonier's personal appearance is given in the biographical sketch which follows. 
 
M ASTERS IN ART 
 
 BORN 1815: DIED 1891 
 FRENCH SCHOOL 
 
 JEAN-LOUIS-ERNEST MEISSONIER (pronounced May-so-nyeh) 
 was born at Lyons, France, on February 21, 1815; but when he was still 
 very young his parents removed to Paris, and it was there that he was 
 brought up. Of his childhood and early youth, cheerless and full of hardships, 
 Meissonier was always reluctant to speak. This may account for the slight 
 knowledge that we have of these years and the somewhat contradictory state- 
 ments of his biographers. His mother, to whom he was tenderly attached, and 
 from whom he inherited his artistic gift, died when he was ten years old, 
 and between the boy and his father there was but little understanding and 
 sympathy. Strongly opposing his son's wish to become a painter, the elder 
 Meissonier, a manufacturing chemist in prosperous circumstances, having 
 given his son a fair though somewhat desultory school education, secured a 
 position for him in the chemical department of the Maison Meunier. Here 
 Meissonier, at that time about seventeen years old, swept the shop, learned 
 to tie up neat packages for customers, and became, against his will, an ex- 
 cellent clerk. He never faltered, however, in his determination to devote 
 himself ultimately to art. He secretly took to drawing in the evenings, and 
 at length besought his father to give him three hundred francs (sixty dollars) 
 that he might take up painting as a profession, promising that nothing more 
 should be heard from him until he had made a name for himself. "Very 
 well," said his father, who had at first turned a deaf ear to his entreaties, 
 "try your hand at painting, since nothing else will satisfy you. But let us 
 understand each other. I give you a week to find a master, and a year to 
 show that you really have talent. At the end of that time, if you have not 
 succeeded, I withdraw my consent, and back you go to the shop." To these 
 terms Meissonier gladly agreed, but the week was almost gone before he had 
 been able to comply with the first condition. After an unsuccessful applica- 
 tion to Paul Delaroche, then at the height of his fame, he went, upon the 
 advice of a friend, to Jules Potier, a mediocre artist, who at first did his best 
 
 [359] 
 
24 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 to discourage him from embarking on a profession which he himself had 
 found far from lucrative, but who finally, after he had examined a sketch 
 which Meissonier produced from the lining of his hat, and which he had 
 lacked the courage to show to Delaroche, consented to receive him as a pupil. 
 
 All winter Meissonier went each morning to Potier's dreary studio, buy- 
 ing on the way, when his funds admitted, a pennyworth of chestnuts to stay 
 his hunger. His father gave him an allowance of fifty centimes (ten cents) 
 a day for his meals, and invited him to the family dinner every Wednesday. 
 On these occasions, Meissonier, too proud to accept his parent's invitation, 
 would come in to dessert after his cheerless dinner of a roll. "Have you 
 dined?" his father would ask. "Oh yes," would be the reply; "I have only 
 dropped in to have coffee with you." 
 
 After several months, Meissonier, helped thereto by Potier, who paid his 
 fees in advance, entered the studio of Leon Cogniet, a painter of no small 
 repute, where he remained for a short time. Cogniet he saw but rarely, and 
 it is probable that his progress was largely due to the advice and encourage- 
 ment of his fellow-pupils, Daubigny, Daumier, Steinheil,Trimolet, and others. 
 At Trimolet's suggestion he was led to study the works of the Dutch and 
 Flemish painters in the Louvre. Meanwhile, in order to eke out his slender 
 means, he undertook, in conjunction with this friend, the painting of fans and 
 cards and the making of cheap book illustrations. It has also been said that 
 he and Daubigny supplied some of the Parisian dealers with pictures for ex- 
 portation at the rate of a franc, or twenty cents, a yard. 
 
 Meissonier never complained of these early years of struggle, and although 
 he was sometimes known to wish that the days could be given back to him 
 which he had lost in providing for the morrow, he would add: "But as to 
 unhappiness, is it possible to be unhappy when one is twenty, when life is 
 all before one, when one has a passion for art, a free pass for the Louvre, 
 and sunshine gratis?" 
 
 Meissonier's name first appeared in the catalogue of the Salon of 1834 
 when his picture 'Dutch Burghers,' now in the Wallace Collection, London, 
 was exhibited, and was bought by the "Societe des Amis des Arts" for one 
 hundred francs (twenty dollars). 
 
 His father now admitted that Ernest possessed a certain aptitude for art; 
 and when shortly after this he painted a portrait by which his father was 
 greatly struck, the now proud parent announced his intention of sending his 
 son to Rome with an allowance of one hundred francs a month. For Rome 
 Meissonier accordingly started, but the cholera broke out in Italy and he 
 was compelled to return to Paris. 
 
 There he found a small studio, a gift from his father, awaiting him. His 
 allowance, however, had been cut down from twelve hundred to seven hun- 
 dred francs a year; and in order to make both ends meet he applied to the 
 publisher, Curmer, for work at illustrating; and so satisfactorily did he fulfil 
 the tasks allotted him that his reputation became in time established as one 
 of the foremost illustrators of the day. 
 
 [360] 
 
MEISSONIER 25 
 
 This employment was, moreover, so lucrative that he could now count 
 upon a daily profit of nearly two dollars, a sum on which he could have lived 
 in comfort had he had only himself to support; but in 1838, when twenty-three 
 years old, he had fallen in love with and married the sister of his artist friend 
 Steinheil, thereby eliciting from his father, who presented him on the occa- 
 sion with six silver spoons, as many forks, a year's rent, and a year's allow- 
 ance, the remark that it was evident that Ernest wanted nothing further from 
 him, for when a man set up housekeeping it was a proof that he considered 
 himself capable of providing for an establishment. 
 
 It is said that Meissonier's decision to devote his attention to genre-painting 
 that is, to the representation of some phase of every-day life for which 
 he had early shown a natural bent, was taken in accordance with the advice 
 of Chenavard, a painter from Lyons, a severe critic, and Meissonier's senior 
 by several years. "In 1838or 1839," Meissonier has himself related, "Chen- 
 avard came one day to take his accustomed seat at my table. Before dinner 
 I showed him the picture I was working on. It was 'Jesus with His Apos- 
 tles,' a canvas of which I no longer know the whereabouts. Chenavard 
 looked at it for some time in silence. I went on expounding my idea to him; 
 still he said nothing. At last he walked around the studio, examining each 
 canvas attentively, but still silently. Before the 'Violoncello-player' he made 
 a long pause. When he had finished his review, he came back to the 'Apos- 
 tles' and began to demolish them. 'I suppose you hardly imagine that you will 
 ever do these things better than Raphael?' said he. 'Of course not.' 'Well, 
 then, what 's the use of saying over again a thing that some one else has already 
 said far better?' Then, taking me over to my 'Violoncello-player,' he added: 
 *Here you have something really personal and most excellent.'" From 
 that moment Meissonier's course was taken: he adopted genre-painting as 
 his specialty. The result was the series of masterpieces on a small scale 
 which have made his name famous the world over. 
 
 His artistic career may be said to have now fairly begun, and from 1839, 
 or 1840, his reputation steadily increased. Exhibiting regularly in the Salons, 
 his works were enthusiastically received. Indeed, whenever they were shown 
 in the annual exhibitions such crowds would form around his tiny panels 
 that a special constable had to be stationed near them for their protection. 
 
 In 1840, six years after the exhibition of his first picture, Meissonier won 
 a medal of the third class. This was soon followed by others of higher order, 
 culminating in 1855 in the grand medal of honor at the Universal Exposi- 
 tion held in Paris in that year. From that date his progress was little short 
 of triumphal. England, Holland, Belgium, Germany, Spain, and Russia 
 united with his native country in honoring him, and orders, decorations, and 
 medals were showered upon him. Created a Knight of the Legion of Honor 
 in 1846, he was made an Officer of that Order nine years later, then a Com- 
 mander, and finally Grand Officer, and in 1889 the Grand Cross of the 
 Legion of Honor was conferred upon him the first artist to receive this 
 decoration since its foundation bv Napoleon I. Of the Institute he became a 
 
 [361] 
 
26 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 member in 1861, was twice thereafter elected its president, and was chosen an 
 honorary member of the Royal Academy of London, the Munich Academy, 
 and numerous other foreign societies. 
 
 Dealers and connoisseurs vied in purchasing his works, for which fabulous 
 sums were paid. His little cavaliers, soldiers, readers, smokers, and card- 
 players attained such a wide reputation that he was kept busy in painting 
 variations of subjects which had captivated the public by their exquisite fin- 
 ish and diminutive dimensions. The "King of Lilliput" he was called by 
 one enthusiastic critic; and it was said of him that "he could paint a battle 
 scene on a louis d'or." 
 
 Upon the outbreak of war between Austria and Italy in 1859, Meis- 
 sonier obtained permission of the emperor, Napoleon in., to accompany the 
 French army to the seat of war, and was present at the battle of Solferino,. 
 shortly afterwards painting his famous canvas of that name, which is now in 
 the Louvre. Still more famous are the pictures in which he represented Na- 
 poleon I. under varying circumstances of triumph and of disappointment. 
 
 With the exception of some journeys to Switzerland, Italy, and the Riv- 
 iera, and a trip to Holland, Meissonier's life was spent in France; partly in 
 Paris, where he built a magnificent house on the Boulevard Malesherbes, but 
 mostly at Poissy in the environs of the city, where his country house, resem- 
 bling a little castle, had been constructed wholly from his own designs. In both 
 houses the studios, filled with valuable works of art, costumes, draperies, reg- 
 imental uniforms, arms and accoutrements of every period of French history, 
 formed important features. Meissonier was a born collector, and his passion 
 grew as his resources increased. He used to visit the old-clothes markets of 
 Paris early in the morning, when the goods were unpacked and before other 
 customers had arrived, and would buy everything that he could find in the 
 way of old eighteenth-century costumes, faded tapestries, and relics of by- 
 gone days. When unable to procure the exact object which he might need 
 as a model for any painting on hand he either had it made, regardless of ex- 
 pense, or would himself turn tailor, saddler, joiner, or cabinet-maker, as occa- 
 sion demanded. 
 
 The stables were almost as important as the studios in both Meissonier's. 
 establishments. His interest in horses was keen, and he never tired of 
 studying their anatomy and movements. M. Charles Yriarte tells how he 
 had a road made in his grounds at Poissy with a little tramway running par- 
 allel to it, on which, seated in a small car, he would be propelled along the 
 rails, while a horse would be put through its paces on the road beside him, 
 and, pencil in hand, he would jot down every detail of the animal's action. 
 
 Meissonier's patience in perfecting each detail of his pictures was inex- 
 haustible. Indefatigable and unsparing of himself, no difficulty daunted him. 
 Nor did success and wealth cause any difference in his habits of conscientious- 
 industry. An early riser, he would often work in his studio or out-of-doors, 
 regardless of heat or of cold, for ten or twelve hours a day, scarcely pausing for 
 meals. So high was his standard that he continually changed and corrected 
 his designs, frequently painting out a whole composition in order to begin 
 
 [362] 
 
MEISSONIER 27 
 
 over again if by so doing he thought he could improve upon his original 
 work. Some of his canvases he used to call his "Penelope's webs." 
 
 The Russian artist Vassili Verestchagm has told how Meissonier, in ac- 
 cordance with a frequent practice, made a beautifully finished little wax 
 model of a horse and rider for his picture of a horseman passing along a de- 
 serted road in a strong wind. Every detail was carefully reproduced from the 
 real materials the rider's cloak, hat, and spurred boots were miniature mas- 
 terpieces and in order to get the exact folds of the cloak it was dipped into 
 thin glue and then placed in the wind so that it stiffened as it blew. 
 
 When the Franco-Prussian war broke out in 1870, Meissonier was among 
 the first to offer his services to his country. During the siege of Paris he 
 occupied a high position on the staff of the National Guard, and took an 
 active part in organizing a corps of artists distinguished for their bravery. 
 Never could he forgive Germany for her victory, carrying his resentment so 
 far as to be unwilling thereafter to receive any painters from beyond the 
 Rhine, and even refusing to accept the Prussian Order of Merit offered to 
 him in after years. 
 
 Meissonier was twice married, and his domestic life was singularly happy. 
 He was never so content as in his own beautiful home at Poissy ; and when he 
 was elected mayor of the district it was said that he was never happier nor 
 prouder than when wearing his sash of office and engaged in performing the 
 duties pertaining to his position. 
 
 "Meissonier's mode of life was simple," writes his friend M. Yriarte; "he 
 loved open air; he loved his home; and clung to his own habits, leading an 
 unconventional life and following his own whims, which often estranged him 
 from the worldly throng. He was fond of athletic sports, especially of riding. 
 He indulged in original costumes, and insisted on freedom of action. Rich 
 by the products of his brush, he was the first artist who in his own lifetime 
 knew what are called 'big prices.' Yet though his signature was worth that 
 of the Bank of France, and his credit was unlimited, he was always in need 
 of money, and if he paid the interest on his debts with a drawing or a sketch 
 it was assuredly the lender who then became the debtor. This was the case 
 with Alexandre Dumas the younger, who was often his banker and yet who 
 never would accept money in repayment of his loans." 
 
 In person Meissonier was short. His head was large, his shoulders broad, 
 his legs slender and slightly bowed. His carriage was erect and his bearing 
 military. His eyes were soft but eager. He was exceedingly short-sighted. 
 His hair was thick and straight, and his beard, bushy and brown in middle 
 life, was in later years white, long, and flowing. Vain and fond of display 
 and of creating an impression, he was yet of a retiring disposition and very 
 diffident with strangers. He had a quick, peremptory way of speaking, and 
 his manner was abrupt, at times almost rude. But although he made some 
 enemies he had many warm friends, one of whom, M. Jules Claretie, has 
 given us the following appreciation of his character: 
 
 "That which is most pleasing in Meissonier," he writes, "is the frank 
 cordiality with which he explains his plans, and looks you in the face the 
 
 [363] 
 
28 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 while with his deep, clear eyes. This man who lives in a palace is as mod- 
 erate as a soldier on the march. This artist whose canvases are valued by 
 the half-million is as generous as a nabob, and will give a picture worth the 
 price of a house to a charity sale." 
 
 In 1884, on the occasion of what was called his "golden wedding with 
 art" fifty years after the appearance of his first picture a loan exhibition 
 of Meissonier's works was held in Paris which became nothing short of an ova- 
 tion for the artist, who had then reached his seventieth year. To the end he 
 worked with unflagging industry and enthusiasm. It was but a twelvemonth 
 before his death that, upon the schism in the old Salon, he was made president 
 of the Societe Nationale des Beaux-Arts, known as the New Salon, which 
 thenceforth held its yearly exhibitions in the Champ-de-Mars. His last ef- 
 fort was a sketch for a monumental decoration destined for the interior of 
 the Pantheon, Paris a work very different in its large proportions from his 
 customary miniature-like panels. Nothing daunted, however, he set about 
 the task. The subject selected was 'The Apotheosis of France.' His pu- 
 pils, notable among whom were his son Charles Meissonier and Edouard 
 Detaille, stood ready to assist him in his undertaking; but it was not to be 
 accomplished. His health, hitherto so robust, gave way, and his death oc- 
 curred, after a suffering illness, on January 31, 1891. 
 
 His funeral services were held in the Church of the Madeleine, Paris, and 
 as the possessor of the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honor a full military 
 funeral was accorded him. Trains of artillery followed his coffin, and salutes 
 were fired as for a conqueror. 
 
 C|)e art of Jttetesomer 
 
 KENYON COX <THE NATION' 1896 
 
 MEISSONIER'S style was formed in all its essentials singularly early. 
 From the very first the great little pictures seem as masterly as any- 
 thing their author afterwards produced. His life was long and filled with 
 untiring study and industry, yet he never did things better than he did at 
 first; he only did other things as well. How this quite prodigious mastery 
 was attained so early is a mystery. It would seem as if this artist had never 
 had to learn, had had no period of uncertainty and struggle had almost been 
 born a master. The subjects change, but not the manner. From the begin- 
 ning of his career to the end the conception of art is identical, the methods 
 are the same, the achievement is almost uniform. 
 
 It may even be doubted if some of Meissonier's earlier work is not the 
 best that he has left, merely because the subjects and the scale of that work 
 are admirably fitted for the display of his qualities and the minimizing of his 
 limitations. It is the admirable series of 'Smokers' and 'Readers,' 'Painters' 
 and 'Connoisseurs,' which give the fullest measure to his powers and the 
 
 [364] 
 
M EISSONIER 29 
 
 least hint of his shortcomings, which made his reputation, and perhaps are 
 likeliest to maintain it. These pictures are in the purest vein of genre- 
 painting, and immediately suggest comparison with the wonderful little mas- 
 ters of Holland. At first Meissonier was considered as a reviver of Dutch 
 art and that he was a great admirer of that art there can be no doubt. Up- 
 on examination, however, it soon becomes visible that the differences between 
 him and his models are as great as the resemblances. First of these differ- 
 ences is a fundamental one of point of view. The Dutch masters were pure 
 painters, and their subjects were strictly contemporary. They contented 
 themselves with looking about them and painting what interested them in 
 what they saw. Meissonier treated contemporary subjects only two or three 
 times, and then only when something intensely dramatic or historically im- 
 portant attracted him. You would look in vain in his work for any such rec- 
 ord of the ordinary life of the nineteenth century as the Dutchmen have given 
 us of that of the seventeenth. Meissonier was such a master of the antiqua- 
 rianism he practised he managed to enter so thoroughly within the skin of 
 his two or three favorite epochs that he almost deceives us at times; but 
 he was nevertheless essentially an antiquarian, and, therefore, his work never 
 has the spontaneity of the old work. 
 
 Another difference is in the quality of drawing. Meissonier was a won- 
 derfully accurate draftsman. His drawing is composed of equal parts of as- 
 tonishingly clear and accurate vision and of deep scientific acquirement. It 
 is not the drawing of the great stylists, the masters of beautiful and signifi- 
 cant line, but it is marvelously forceful and just. The drawing of Ter Borch 
 is equally accurate, but seems to have no formula, no method, no ascertain- 
 able knowledge behind it. It seems unconscious and naive in a way which 
 that of Meissonier never approaches. Finally, in color and in the manage- 
 ment of light, Meissonier cannot be compared to any one of half-a-dozen 
 Dutch painters. His tone is almost always a little foxy, his handling a little 
 dry. Sometimes in interiors with only one or two figures his realistic force 
 of imitation of that which was before him almost carried him to a fine ren- 
 dering even of light and color. He had built his picture before he painted 
 it, and had only to copy what was directly under his eye, and he did this so 
 well as almost to become a colorist and a luminist. It is only when he tries 
 to paint open-air subjects and larger compositions that his defects become 
 very apparent. 
 
 His merits are all to be included in the two great ones of thoroughness 
 and accuracy. He never shirked any difficulty or avoided any study, was 
 never sloppy or formless or vague. His knowledge of costume and furniture 
 was only less wonderful than his grasp of character and his perfect render- 
 ing of form. He was a thorough realist, with little imagination and less sense 
 of beauty, but with an insatiable appetite for and a marvelous digestion of 
 concrete fact. His work is amazing in its industry, but his industry never 
 becomes mere routine. His detail is never mere finikin particularity of touch, 
 but is patient investigation of truth. At his best he is hardly sufficiently to 
 be admired; but he awakens only admiration, never emotion. His drawing 
 
 [365] 
 
30 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 is absolute, his relief startling, he gives almost the illusion of nature; but he 
 never evokes a vision of beauty or charms one into a dream. 
 
 Meissonier's qualities are fully sufficient to account for the admiration of 
 the public and the universal respect of his brother artists; and as long as he 
 was content to be a genre-painter they were sufficient to make him easily the 
 first genre-painter of his time, if not quite (as an artist has recently called 
 him) the "greatest genre-painter of any age." In his later work they are less 
 sufficient. He became ambitious; he wanted to be a great historical painter, 
 to paint a "Napoleonic Cycle," to decorate the walls of the Pantheon. He 
 transferred his personages to the open air, he enlarged his canvases and mul- 
 tiplied his figures, he attempted violent movement. His methods, which had 
 been admirably suited to the production of almost perfect little pictures of 
 tranquil indoor life, were not so adequate to the rendering of his new themes. 
 His prodigious industry, his exhaustive accuracy, his vigor, and his conscien- 
 tiousness were as great as ever, but the most exact study of nature in detail 
 would not give the effect of open air, the most rigorous scientific analysis of 
 the movements of the horse would not make him move, the accumulation 
 of small figures would not look like an army. It was in vain that he built a 
 railway to follow the action of a galloping horse, or bought a grain-field that 
 he might see just what it would be like when a squadron had charged through 
 it. What he produced may be demonstrably true, but does not look true. 
 
 The best of these more ambitious works is perhaps the '1814'; the worst 
 is the '1807,' which has found a home in the Metropolitan Museum, New 
 York; yet it possesses, in as high a degree as any earlier work, every one 
 of the qualities which made Meissonier's greatness. The industry, the 
 strenuous exactness, the thoroughness, the impeccable draftsmanship, the 
 sharpness of relief, are all here at their greatest. The amount of labor that 
 the picture represents is simply appalling, and it is almost all wasted because 
 it is not the kind of labor that was wanted. On all these figures not a gaiter- 
 button is wanting, and the total result of all this addition of detail is simple 
 chaos. The idea of the composition is fine, but the effect is missed. Looked 
 at close at hand, each head, each hand, each strap and buckle, is masterly, 
 but at a distance sufficiently great to permit the whole canvas to be taken 
 in at one glance nothing is seen but a meaningless glitter. It is not only 
 true that a life-sized figure treated like one of Meissonier's small ones "would 
 be unendurable," but it is equally true that a great number of such small fig- 
 ures will not make a large picture. The sharp and hard detail which was in 
 place in his early canvases is fatal to the unity and breadth necessary to a 
 large composition. It is equally fatal to the sense of movement. The 'Smok- 
 ers' and 'Readers' were doing as little as possible, and one felt that one had 
 plenty of time to notice their coat buttons and the smallest details of their 
 costume; the cuirassiers of '1807' are dashing by at a furious gallop, and 
 the eye resents the realization of detail that it could not possibly perceive. 
 Even if the action of the horses in the picture were correct (and, for once, 
 it is not), nothing could make them move when the eye is thus arrested by 
 infinitesimal minutiae. 
 
 [366] 
 
MEISSONIER 31 
 
 Such was Meissonier: within his limits an almost perfect painter, and, 
 even when he overstepped them, one whose terrible conscientiousness in the 
 exercise of amazing ability will always merit deep respect. He thoroughly 
 earned the honors he received, the fortune he acquired and squandered, and 
 the immortality of which he is reasonably certain. 
 
 THEOPHILE GAUTIER 'GAZETTE DES BEAUX-ARTS' 1862 
 
 MEISSONIER is one of the most remarkable painters of the nineteenth 
 century. Such was his originality that without any preliminary gro- 
 ping he at once struck the path which with a sure step he followed to the end. 
 In those first studies in which, as a rule, an artist tentatively seeks to find 
 himself by emulating and imitating others, Meissonier asserted himself at 
 once not, of course, with the same accentuation, the same power of relief 
 or of characterization which signalize his mature works, but nevertheless 
 in such a way that he appeared to be quite distinct from all other painters, 
 emphatically a master in his own domain, and easily to be recognized by 
 the least observant. . . . The portraits of Ter Borch, Netscher, Metsu, 
 Brauwer, and of Van Mieris might well hang on the walls of Meissonier's 
 studio as the presentments of his progenitors, but a legitimate and authentic 
 affiliation in no way prevents the individuality of the descendant, who may 
 remain true to his origin and at the same time retain his own characteristics, 
 his own special traits; and Meissonier's works, worthy of being placed in 
 any gallery among the richest jewels of Dutch art, are yet distinctly his own. 
 For if he resembles the "little masters" of Holland in their truthfulness, and 
 in the exquisitely delicate perfection of their workmanship, in their precision 
 of painting, and in their careful and exact delineation of detail, he differs from 
 them in that he possesses qualities which are wholly French qualities which 
 have scarcely been sufficiently appreciated. 
 
 There is, for instance, a science in his composition unknown to the Dutch 
 painters with whom he is frequently compared. This word "composition" 
 may seem a singular one to use in speaking of paintings which often contain 
 only one figure, but it is none the less correct. It is a mark of great art to 
 inspire interest in a single figure, and Meissonier was master of that art in 
 the highest degree. . . . 
 
 It should be noted with what close observation, with what keen historic 
 perception, Meissonier penetrated into the spirit of the eighteenth century; 
 he strikes the key-note even more truly than do the painters or writers of the 
 period itself, not one of whom has portrayed or described it so vividly. And 
 he by no means confines himself to the eighteenth century; he sometimes 
 takes retrospective excursions into previous periods. He sends his compli- 
 ments to Ter Borch, for example, by an elegant cavalier with a short cloak, 
 a collar of Venetian point, and lace ruffles in his huge top-boots. His am- 
 ateurs of painting do not always wear French coats and three-cornered hats, 
 but sometimes, arrayed like the gentlemen of Netscher or of Palamedes, 
 they visit the studio of some Dutch master, where they critically examine a 
 picture finished in minute detail, while its painter, perfectly satisfied with his 
 
 [367] 
 
32 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 work, affects an obsequious modesty. Meissonier is skilled in the portrayal 
 of all such characters, accurately depicting their mien, bearing, and costume, 
 and rendering with a life-like imitation of nature these little scenes composed 
 of two or three personages. . . . 
 
 One point in particular which should be observed in his work is that his 
 exquisite finish comes from the firm and clear rendering of objects reduced 
 to small dimensions, and not because his manner of painting is in any way 
 finical or labored. On the contrary, his style is broad, his paint is laid on in 
 planes, with all the accent, touch, and even with a handling of the colors, as 
 if his figures were the size of life, only these qualities are all reduced to a 
 proportionate scale, and when thus concentrated become clearer and more 
 apparent. The hands of some of his figures are astonishing in the minute 
 delicacy of all the details; in the delineation of each muscle, each vein, 
 and in the care with which every finger-nail is painted; yet seen through a 
 powerful magnifying-glass they would look like hands painted by Philippe 
 de Champagne or by Van Dyck. It is not, then, by spending a month in 
 putting the finishing touches to the handle of a broom as is related of 
 Gerard Dou that Meissonier attains his marvelous results. His little pic- 
 tures are always solidly constructed, admirably put together, and drawn with 
 a degree of knowledge which genre-painters often lack. His local colors are 
 frank, they are warm and strong without any false brilliancy or premature 
 patina, and they are on a masterly scale. His talent, delicate as it is, is at the 
 same time virile and robust. Possibly he does not sacrifice enough for the 
 sake of the beautiful. For instance, he almost completely excludes woman 
 from his work. No fair-haired maid-servant pours out the beer for those 
 topers seated at the table, nor bears on a tray frail Bohemian glasses in which 
 the yellow wine sparkles like a topaz; never do these haughty cavaliers ad- 
 dress a declaration of love to a charming lady in petticoat of white satin; 
 never does a fair model pose in those studios, so rich in objects of art; nor 
 do we ever see near one of those windows with folding shutters, through 
 which the light falls softly, a young girl busied with her spinning-wheel or 
 plying her needle. This singular lack on the part of Meissonier cannot well 
 be explained. Did he fear lest he should not^render woman's delicate beauty 
 so skilfully as he portrayed the more rugged attributes of man ? We cannot 
 say. We can only note the existence of this peculiarity, which is rare in 
 the history of art. . . . 
 
 Meissonier has, indeed, introduced into the painting of genre all the seri- 
 ous qualities of great art. He is one of the masters of our own day to whose 
 works a place will always be assured among those of the most celebrated 
 painters, one who can count most surely upon immortality. FROM THE 
 
 FRENCH 
 
 WALTER ARMSTRONG 'MAGAZINE OF ART' 1891 
 
 IF I were told to describe in words what it is that makes a great painter, 
 I should find it difficult to include any tangible gift that Meissonier was 
 without. He was a superb draftsman; he was a master of composition, so 
 
 [368] 
 
MEISSONIER 33 
 
 far as that quality will submit to mastery; he understood and could realize 
 expression, and his dramatic power was great; his color was not disagreeable 
 in his better moments, and his execution has never been excelled in preci- 
 sion, intelligence, and general sufficiency. And yet, with all these virtues he 
 failed to touch the deeper nature with all these powers he failed to satisfy 
 the more refined perceptions. The fact is he lacked temperament. He could 
 rise to the notion of a Bonaparte; he could paint him at a heroic moment, 
 and could, by a consummate stage management, bring out his heroism; but 
 he could not clothe him in that subtle envelop of art which has given a per- 
 ennial charm to the doings of many a Dutch burgher. It is by the intensity 
 of his own interest and by the patient skill with which he contrives to give 
 it voice that he fascinates his public. . . . 
 
 Meissonier's gifts were almost entirely objective. They were those of an 
 observer, a manipulator, a scientist. It was characteristic of him that in his 
 latter years he was fascinated by the doings of instantaneous photography. 
 He was interested rather in the fact itself than in its esthetic capacities. He 
 was abundantly endowed with the French gifts of patience, of delight in tech- 
 nique, and of thoroughness in all that has to do with manipulation and form. 
 As a workman Sir John Millais once said of him, "He was more complete 
 than any Dutchman," and yet for the artist his best things will never have 
 the charm that clings about a Metsu or a Vermeer of Delft. 
 
 MARIUS CHAUMELIN 'PORTRAITS D'ARTISTES' 
 
 MEISSONIER deserves praise for having resisted from the outset the 
 influence of the two groups of painters who were at his advent divid- 
 ing the favor of the Erench public; for having held equally aloof from the 
 dry and colorless academic drawings of the classic and from the impassioned 
 studies of the romantic school; for having, in his desire to paint small genre- 
 pictures, turned to the true source of familiar every-day art in a word, to 
 the creators, the originators, of genre-painting. The pity of it was that in 
 taking the Dutch for his models he should have imitated them in the letter 
 rather than in the spirit. He emulated their delicacy of touch, the lightness 
 and exquisite harmony of their color, but he was never inspired by their way 
 of seeing and interpreting nature, nor by their deep feeling for the actual life 
 about them, which is one of the chief charms of their works. Instead of look- 
 ing about him and noting the types and manners of his contemporaries 
 the characteristics, passions, virtues and vices, beauties and absurdities, of the 
 living men of his day Meissonier set to work to paint a society that was 
 dead and gone, a society of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and un- 
 fortunately he was led into devoting, in this retrospective work, far more 
 thought to the portrayal of accessories than to the interpretation of ideas to 
 the faithful rendering of costume than to the truth of characterization. 
 
 In depicting detail, be it of the human face or of a landscape, Meissonier 
 excels; but the general character of the one escapes him, as does the har- 
 mony of the other. Herein he is materially distinguished from such a painter 
 as Millet, for instance, who grasped and portrayed in a truly grand way the 
 
 [369] 
 
34 MASTERSINART 
 
 essential features and significant attitudes of his peasant models. Meissonier, 
 however, analyzes, examines, dissects; he seizes with unheard-of dexterity 
 even the very slightest inflection of the muscles, and reproduces with mar- 
 velous surety of touch each tiny line or wrinkle of the face. But if his aim 
 be to astonish us he certainly makes no attempt to move us. No painter, 
 indeed, cares so little as he for the "ultra-pictorial" methods which charm 
 and captivate the public. It never occurs to him to cater to the evil passions 
 nor to encourage the good. He avoids with equal care moral and vulgar sub- 
 jects, scenes that are comic and those that are touching, characters of ancient 
 history and the actual men and women of to-day. He knows neither laugh- 
 ter nor tears. He carries his indifference to grace and beauty to the point 
 of almost banishing from his compositions both women and children. He 
 makes no direct appeal to either the mind or the heart, but seeks, above all 
 else, to charm our eyes by the feats of his brush, counting only upon his 
 skill to give pleasure. His art, in short, is not made for man, but for the 
 pure love of art itself. 
 
 The simplest themes sufficed for him a soldier testing a sword, a sen- 
 tinel leaning on his halberd, an arquebusier, a standard-bearer, a captain of 
 foot-soldiers in full dress, a painter at his easel, an engraver bending over 
 his copperplate, a bookworm reveling in his folios, a musician plaving on 
 his violin, another upon his flute, a cavalier awaiting an audience. Such are 
 the subjects which Meissonier chose to paint, and the small panels which 
 he has devoted to these single figures are among the most highly prized 
 of his works. Their principal interest lies in the fidelity with which the ex- 
 pressions of the faces are rendered, in the truthfulness of the gestures, in the 
 life-like attitudes, and in the marvelous painting of the accessories. In his 
 scenes in which several personages are introduced he does not always suc- 
 ceed in uniting the figures or in bringing them into relation with the back- 
 grounds. The details are invariably faultless; it is the effect of the whole 
 which is sometimes unsatisfactorv. . . . 
 
 Such is the unity of Meissonier's achievement, from the productions of his 
 early years to his last works, that to be familiar with only a few examples 
 suffices for a fair idea of his manner of painting and of his trend of thought. 
 In execution he is always found to be a conscientious, patient, wonderfully 
 skilful draftsman, combining with unfailing sureness of brush-work a fond- 
 ness for the most minute lines and the most delicate embellishments. Al- 
 though there is more dryness in his first productions, more life and spirit in 
 those painted when he was at the height of his career, more breadth and per- 
 haps more modeling in those of his later years, they are all alike in that they 
 keep to the same pictorial ideal precision. Everything in them is subordi- 
 nated to this ideal. As to his artistic conception, it is invariably the detail, 
 the accessory, which is emphasized and which occupies the chief place in 
 his work. . . . 
 
 If we except two or three pictures, which have in them all the most de- 
 lightful qualities, Meissonier's painting, so clear, so precise, so knowing, 
 learned, and deliberate, will be found lacking in several great qualities there 
 
 [370] 
 
MEISSONIER 35 
 
 is nothing of the unexpected in it to take us by storm, nothing impulsive or 
 impetuous to stir our emotions, no warmth of feeling to move, nor passion 
 to transport us. It is perfection; but perfection so limited, so monotonous, 
 that were the truth to be told, it ends by wearying even those who have been 
 most impressed by his marvelous skill. FROM THE FRENCH 
 
 LIONEL ROBINSON M E I S SON I E R ' 
 
 WE do not claim for Meissonier grandeur of style nor sublimity of gen- 
 ius. The outward embodiment of the thought, rather than the thought 
 itself, is too predominant at all times in his work. His creative power seems 
 limited to a degree rarely found among painters of his technical power. He 
 has little sentiment and no tenderness. On the other hand, he is absolutely 
 free from sentimentalism or tawdriness. "To see on a large scale, to exe- 
 cute in miniature" seems to have been the aim of his art, and it would be 
 difficult to find among the ranks of ancient or modern painters the name of 
 one who, by careful and laborious work, more completely achieved his ob- 
 ject, or to whom may be more truly applied the motto: Maxims mirandus 
 in minimis. 
 
 ^orfes of ^letssonter 
 
 DESCRIPTIONS OF THE PLATES 
 'THE SERGEANT'S PORTRAIT' PLATE I 
 
 "T?OR technical skill and subdued humor," writes Mr. Lionel Robinson, 
 JL "this picture is reckoned among Meissonier's greatest successes." The 
 scene is laid in a barrack yard in bright sunlight. A sergeant^ magnificent 
 in his white and blue eighteenth-century uniform, and fully conscious of his 
 fine appearance, is posing before a humble member of the artistic profession, 
 surrounded by a group of soldiers who watch with critical interest the prog- 
 ress of their sergeant's portrait. The red brick wall of the building which 
 forms the background enhances the effect of this brilliantly lighted scene, 
 which Meissonier is said to have painted in order to prove to his critics that 
 they were wrong in asserting that he could paint only interior scenes or those 
 in which the light was subdued. 
 
 The picture, dated 1 87 4, measures nearly two feet and a half high by about 
 two feet wide. It is in Baron Schroeder's collection, London. 
 
 <THE BRAWL* PLATE II 
 
 ' / ~|~ V HE BRAWL' ('La Rixe') is one of Meissonier's most celebrated 
 
 A. works. Painted in 1855 and exhibited in the Universal Exposition 
 
 held in Paris in that year, it was purchased by Napoleon in. for twenty 
 
 thousand francs ($4,000) and presented by him to Prince Albert during the 
 
 [371] 
 
36 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 visit of Queen Victoria and her consort to Paris. It is now in the possession 
 of the King of England. 
 
 The scene represents a quarrel in a tavern between bravos. The period is 
 the early part of the seventeenth century. Tables and chairs have been over- 
 turned, and cards, the probable cause of the trouble, lie scattered on the floor. 
 The assailant has drawn his dagger and struggles to free himself from two com- 
 panions, as they with difficulty prevent his rushing upon his adversary, who, 
 restrained by a third peacemaker, attempts to draw his sword. The violent 
 movement, the fierce struggle of the angry men, the intense expression, not 
 only of the faces but of each limb and muscle, are powerfully rendered by 
 the artist, who, it is said, painted this stirring scene to silence the critics who 
 had declared him unable to depict action. 
 
 The picture, larger than Meissonier's usual tiny panels, measures nearly 
 eighteen inches high by twenty-two inches wide. 
 
 <THE ORDERLY' PLATE III 
 
 NOWHERE has Meissonier's skill in the exact rendering of detail, and 
 at the same time his power of characterization, been better exemplified 
 than in this celebrated picture of 'The Orderly' ('L'Ordonnance'). An or- 
 derly of the period of the First Republic, in high boots and with his musket 
 slung across his shoulders, has delivered a despatch to an officer, who, standing 
 with legs apart and back turned to the fireplace, pompous in the conscious- 
 ness of superior rank, has taken his pipe from his mouth, and deliberately 
 peruses the letter. A hussar seated at a table nearby, pipe in hand, watches 
 the face of his chief. 
 
 The accessories of the scene, furniture, ornaments, and above all the cos- 
 tumes, are painted with such care that each bit of carving, each strap and 
 buckle of the soldiers' uniforms, is clearly and accurately portrayed. 
 
 The picture, dated 1866, is now i" the Vanderbilt Collection, New York. 
 It measures eighteen inches high by fifteen inches wide. 
 
 <THE VEDETTE* PLATE IV 
 
 </ T -N HE VEDETTE,' or mounted sentinel, was a subject often painted by 
 A Meissonier, and one that gave scope to his fondness for portraying 
 military life and picturesque costume. Above all it offered opportunity for 
 his study of the horse, in the masterful delineation of which he was unsur- 
 passed. 
 
 M. Gruyer thus describes the famous version of 'The Vedette' here re- 
 produced (the full French title of which is 'La Vedette des Dragons sous 
 Louis xv.'), the original of which is in the Conde Museum, Chantilly: 
 
 "Seated motionless upon his horse in the blazing sunlight, his gun at his 
 side, the vedette scans the horizon. His good horse, with ears erect and 
 nostrils distended as if scenting danger from afar, stands like a statue, his 
 shadow outlined upon the sun-baked earth beside him. In every respect this 
 horse is a model of correct and accurate drawing. As to the vedette himself, 
 
 [372] 
 
MEISSONIER 37 
 
 he is characterized by that frank simplicity, that combination of elegance 
 and straightforward realism, which are, as it were, the artist's signature. 
 The little masterpiece vividly brings to mind those picturesque red dragoons, 
 who, with their big boots and black three-cornered hats enlivened by knots 
 of blue ribbon, formed part of the army of France in the time of Louis xv." 
 The picture was painted in 1863. It is on wood, and measures ten inches 
 high by eight inches wide. 
 
 <FRIEDLAND, 1807' PLATE V 
 
 THIS famous picture is one of the uncompleted series of the "Napoleonic 
 Cycle" (see description of the following plate). It has been spoken of 
 by some critics as a "superb example of Meissonier's art," as his "finest 
 achievement," and by others as "one of the worst pictures he ever painted," 
 a "failure in composition," cold in its elaboration of detail, monotonous in 
 the figures, which it is said were all painted from one and the same model; 
 inferior, indeed, in every respect, save in the draftsmanship and marvelous 
 technique, in praise of which no dissenting voice is raised. Whatever the 
 view held of this picture, however, 'Friedland, 1807'' is Meissonier's most 
 celebrated work, and it is well known that the artist regarded it as his master- 
 piece. He expended fourteen years of labor upon it, studies innumerable 
 were made for it (each figure, it is said, was the subject of a separate sketch), 
 and changes and corrections were again and again introduced which resulted 
 in an almost entire repainting of the scene. To portray accurately the ap- 
 pearance of grain trampled by hoofs of cavalry horses as shown in the fore- 
 ground of the picture, Meissonier is said to have bought a wheat-field and 
 hired a troop of cuirassiers to charge through it, he himself riding beside and 
 carefully noting the attitudes of men and horses. Such was the thorough- 
 ness, the painstaking care, and the untiring patience that went towards the 
 making of this famous work. 
 
 The subject represents the triumphant defiling of the cavalry of the Im- 
 perial Guard before Napoleon I., who, seated motionless upon his white horse, 
 occupies the central point of interest, the spot upon which all eyes are fixed. 
 Grouped about him are his generals Bessieres, Duroc, and Berthier; just 
 behind him General Nansouty with his division awaits the order to defile; 
 farther back is the "Old Guard," with their bearskin caps and white breeches; 
 and behind them again, squadron after squadron of troops, with an infinite 
 perspective dotted with men as far as the eye can see. 
 
 "I did not intend to paint a battle," said Meissonier; "I wanted to paint 
 Napoleon at the zenith of his glory; I wanted to paint the love, the adora- 
 tion of the soldiers for the great captain in whom they had faith and for 
 whom they were ready to die. For the picture '1814,' the heartrending end of 
 the imperial dream, my palette did not have colors sad enough; but in 'Fried- 
 land, 1807,' wishing everything to appear brilliant at this triumphant mo- 
 ment, it seemed to me that I could not find colors sufficiently dazzling. No 
 shade should be upon the emperor's face to take from him the epic character 
 I wished to give him. The battle of Friedland, already commenced, was nec- 
 
 [373] 
 
38 MASTERS IN ART 
 
 essary to add to the enthusiasm of the soldiers and make the subject stand 
 forth, but not to lessen its effect by saddening details. All such shadows I 
 avoided a dismounted cannon and some growing wheat which would never 
 ripen, this was enough. The men and the emperor are in the presence of 
 each other. The soldiers cry out to him that they are his, and the great chief, 
 whose imperial will directs the masses that move around him, salutes his de- 
 voted army." 
 
 'Friedland, 1807' was purchased from the artist by the late Mr. A. T. 
 Stewart of New York, for $60,000. At the sale of the Stewart Collection 
 in 1887 it was bought by Judge Henry Hilton for an even larger sum, and 
 presented by him to the Metropolitan Museum, New York, where it now 
 hangs. It is painted on canvas, and measures nearly four feet and a half high 
 by about eight feet wide. 
 
 'THE CAMPAIGN OF FRANCE, 1814' PLATE VI 
 
 ONE of the two finished works belonging to an uncompleted series which 
 it was Meissonier's intention to paint illustrating the chief events of 
 the military career of Napoleon I. is this picture, 'The Campaign of F ranee,' 
 or '1814,' as it is perhaps more often called. It is by many regarded as his 
 masterpiece. 
 
 "When I made the sketch for '1814,'" he said, "I was thinking of Na- 
 poleon returning from Soissons with his staff after the battle of Laon. It 
 is the campaign of France, not the return from Russia, as has been some- 
 times suggested. For this theme I could scarcely find colors sad and subdued 
 enough. The sky is dreary, the landscape devastated. The dejected, exas- 
 perated faces express discouragement, despair, possibly even treachery." 
 
 In the center of the picture, seated on his white horse and wearing his 
 famous gray coat, rides Napoleon. Close behind follow his marshals Ney, 
 his overcoat buttoned around his shoulders; beside him Berthier, and then 
 Flahaut.. Farther back are Drouet and Gourgaud, and beside them an officer 
 who from sheer fatigue has fallen asleep on his horse. Behind, as far as the 
 eye can see, follow in military file the guides, lancers, and cuirassiers. "The 
 abrupt diminution of the line of men in my '1814,'" said Meissonier, "is an 
 intentional effect. Some painters would, perhaps, have put in as many fig- 
 ures as possible, but it was my idea to suggest a line stretching away into 
 the distance out of sight. This gives greater majesty to the emperor with 
 his marshals behind him each so individual, so personal in costume and 
 attitude, like Ney, for instance, who never put his arms through the sleeves 
 of his overcoat. A little way off comes the infantry, marching in line, the 
 drums in front." 
 
 To paint this figure of the emperor Meissonier made many studies. 
 Having borrowed the identical gray riding-coat of the first Napoleon, the 
 famous redingote grist, from the National Museum, where it was preserved, 
 he had an exact copy made for his model to wear. M. Charles Meissonier, 
 his son, has told how his father waited long for the appropriate weather in 
 which to paint the scene from nature. "At last the snow fell, and when it 
 
 [374] 
 
MEISSONIER 39 
 
 had covered the ground my father set to work. He had the earth trampled 
 down by his servants and broken up by the passing to and fro of heavy carts. 
 When the track had become sufficiently muddy, he began work, and, not- 
 withstanding the bitter cold, placed his models on horseback; then, with 
 prodigious activity, he hurried on the study of details in order to get them 
 finished before a thaw set in. Fortunately the weather continued cold, and 
 the same sad gray sky shrouded with opaque clouds remained the sky 
 necessary for the desired effect. After the escort of generals Napoleon's 
 picture was the next work. All the different parts of his costume were ready 
 and had been executed under Prince Napoleon's supervision and rigorously 
 copied from the authentic relics. When the time came to dress the model 
 it was found that he could not put on the clothes. He was a stout young 
 man and the riding-coat was too small for him, while the hat fell over his 
 eyes. My father then tried on the costume; the coat fitted him like a glove, 
 the hat seemed made for him. He did not hesitate for a moment, but at once 
 took the model's place on the white horse that had been sent from the im- 
 perial stables, had a mirror set up before him, and began to copy his own 
 image. The cold was intense; my father's feet froze to the iron stirrups, 
 and we were obliged to place foot-warmers under them and to put a chafing- 
 dish near him, over which he occasionally held his hands." 
 
 The picture was painted in 1864. It measures about twenty inches high 
 by thirty inches wide, and is in the Chauchard Collection, Paris. 
 
 'THE STIRRUP-CUP* PLATE vn 
 
 MEISSONIER repeated this subject several times, always with vari- 
 ations. In this version, owned by the late Mr. Frederick L. Ames, 
 Boston, the scene is laid before an inn. Hat in hand, a cavalier of the time 
 of Louis xni. takes his parting glass, the "stirrup-cup," from the landlord's 
 wife. This is one of the rare instances of the introduction of a woman in 
 a picture by Meissonier. 
 
 The attitudes are lifelike, the expressions of the different figures natural, 
 and in the effect of strong, vibrant sunshine which permeates the scene 
 Meissonier has given an admirable example of his skill in the portrayal of 
 light and atmosphere out-of-doors. 
 
 The trees at the left of the picture are vivid spring green, relieved against 
 a bit of blue sky; the wall of the inn is of cream-colored stone; the horse is 
 white; the cavalier is clad in pale gray-green stuff; the woman's bodice is 
 fawn-colored and her skirt bright cherry red. The picture measures about 
 seven inches high by nine inches wide. 
 
 'THE PRINT COLLECTOR' PLATE VIII 
 
 IN a room filled with a variety of objects, pictures framed and unframed 
 upon the walls, bottles, jars, books and ornaments upon the tables, en- 
 gravings in portfolios or lying carelessly upon a chair a room which is said 
 to be a representation of one of Meissonier's own studios, and which is at- 
 
 [375J 
 
40 MASTERSINART 
 
 tractive in its very untidiness a print collector, wearing a long dark coat, 
 gray stockings, and low shoes, is engaged in showing one of his treasures to 
 a visitor, who, clad in a light brown coat, and with his hair dressed and 
 powdered for the day, critically regards it with the eye of a connoisseur. 
 
 "There seems no sense of ordered arrangement anywhere," writes Mr. 
 A. G. Temple, "yet every inch of this panel shows the same transcendent 
 skill, from the leg of the chair to the sensitive value given to the stone jar 
 against which the green table-cloth falls. Nowhere is there opacity, but a 
 beautiful transparency alike in lights and shadows." 
 
 The picture measures about fourteen inches high by eleven inches wide. 
 It is now in the Wallace Collection, London. 
 
 <THE READER IN WHITE' PLATE IX 
 
 THIS little picture, known as 'The Reader in White' (<Le Liseur Blanc'), 
 painted on a panel eight inches high by six inches wide, is one of the 
 incomparable series of single figures which went far towards establishing 
 Meissonier's reputation, and attained such world-wide popularity that the 
 artist could have made his fame and fortune by the mere multiplication of 
 these tiny masterpieces. 
 
 "It is in his single figures his monologues," writes M. Andre Michel, 
 "that Meissonier attains perfection. If one would experience unalloyed pleas- 
 ure let him look at the charming series of 'Readers,' standing or seated in 
 their rooms, where all the accessories are so characteristic of their lives and 
 tastes. In every one of these little pictures the light comes from the side, 
 through a window sometimes open, sometimes partly closed by inside shut- 
 ters. A green or a red cloth covers the table, on which are piled books bound 
 in parchment or calfskin, and pamphlets with worn and ragged edges. The 
 Reader himself, dressed sometimes in black, sometimes in white, and again 
 in cherry color, is standing, or leaning against the window, or seated before 
 his table, absorbed in his book, while on his face there is always a subtly por- 
 trayed expression of inward content." 
 
 The 'Reader' here reproduced is dressed in a costume of white woolen 
 material, his hair is powdered, and the table against which he leans is covered 
 with a green velvet cloth. Painted with the exquisite finish of a Dutch "little 
 master," this picture is yet characterized by a spirit, an indescribable some- 
 thing, distinctly French. It was painted in 1857, and is in the Chauchard 
 Collection, Paris. 
 
 THE BROTHERS VAN DE VELDE' PLATE X 
 
 MEISSONIER has here represented the two Dutch painters Adrien and 
 Willem van de Velde, who flourished in the seventeenth century. 
 Adrien, the elder, was noted for his landscapes with figures and cattle, and 
 Willem for his marine views. The scene is the studio of the younger brother. 
 Adrien van de Velde, wearing a gray doublet, breeches of the same color, 
 and a long red mantle, is seated before his brother's easel, attentively exam- 
 
 [376] 
 
MEISSONIER 
 
 ining a painting, while Willem, palette and brush in hand, awaits his elder 
 brother's criticism. He wears a pearl-gray coat with slashed sleeves. 
 
 The carved oak sideboard covered with various objects, the mandolin on 
 its top, the unframed canvas resting against the wall beside it, the open port- 
 folio of sketches on the floor, the chair in the foreground, as well as every 
 detail of feature and costume, are painted with all the care and technical 
 skill of which Meissonier was a past master. 
 
 The picture, dated 1856, measures ten inches high by eight inches wide. 
 It is now in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. 
 
 A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL PAINTINGS BY MEISSONIER 
 IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS 
 
 THE following list includes only the more important pictures in collections which are 
 accessible to the public, for the majority of Meissonier 1 s works (nearly five hundred 
 in all, and of which about seventy-five are in the United States) are in private possession, 
 and therefore not only difficult to trace, but constantly changing hands. For a fuller list the 
 reader is referred to Greard's 'Meissonier' (London and New York, 1897). 
 
 ENGLAND. LONDON, WALLACE COLLECTION: A Musketeer; Halting at an Innj 
 Napoleon i. and his Staff; A Cavalier; St. John in Patmos; The Print Collector 
 (Plate vin); The Decameron; The Bravos; The Roadside Inn; Portrait of Colonel Felix 
 Massue; Soldiers Gambling; A Cavalier; A Musketeer; Polichinelle; Dutch Burghers; 
 The Guardroom FRANCE. CHANTILLY, CONDE MUSEUM: The Vedette (Plate 
 iv); The Cuirassiers of 1805; The Amateurs of Paintings (water-color) LYONS MU- 
 SEUM: Portrait of Meissonier; Portrait of General Championnet; Portrait of Paul 
 Chenavard PARIS, LOUVRE: Napoleon in. at Solferino; Napoleon in. and his Staff; 
 Expectation; Young Woman Singing; Landscape; Washerwomen at Antibes; Studies of 
 Cuirassiers and Horses (three panels); Portrait of Alexandre Dumas the Younger; Por- 
 trait of Madame Gerriot; Three Views of Venice; The Madonna del Bacio; Ruins of the 
 Tuileries; The Siege of Paris; Samson; J. J. Rousseau and Madame de Warens; On the 
 Staircase; Studies of two Cuirassiers; Antibes; The Travelers; Cuirassier; Portrait of 
 Meissonier when Young; Portrait of Meissonier (Page 22); The Reader; The Three 
 Smokers; The Flute-player; Military Orders; The Poet VALENCIENNES MUSEUM: Por- 
 trait of Meissonier (water-color) GERMANY. MUNICH, NEW PINAKOTHEK: The 
 Bravos HAMBURG, KUNSTHALLE: A Cavalier HOLLAND. AMSTERDAM, FODOR 
 MUSEUM : Dying Man and Monk UNITED STATES. BALTIMORE, WALTERS GAL- 
 LERY: The Jovial Trooper; The End of a Game of Cards; Courtyard of the Artist's Stu- 
 dio; '1814' (single figure of Napoleon); Two Portraits of Meissonier BOSTON, MU- 
 SEUM OF FINE ARTS: A Horseman (sketch); A General (sketch) CHICAGO, ART IN- 
 STITUTE: The Vedette NEW YORK, METROPOLITAN MUSEUM: Friedland, 1807 (Plate v); 
 The Sign-painter (water-color); The Brothers Van de Velde (Plate x); General and Ad- 
 jutant; Man Reading; A Cavalier PHILADELPHIA, ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS: Cavalier 
 Waiting an Audience. 
 
 [377] 
 
' . 
 42 MASTERSINART 
 
 A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL BOOKS AND MAGAZINE ARTICLES 
 DEALING WITH MEISSONIER 
 
 TV /TEISSONIER, ses souvenirs, ses entretiens,' by V. C. O. Greard (Paris, 1897), 
 1VJ. although far from satisfactory or comprehensive, is the most important study of 
 Meissonier that has yet appeared. An English translation by Lady Mary Loyd and Flor- 
 ence Simmonds was published in London and New York in 1897. 
 
 AJOUT, E. Nos artistes au Salon de Paris. Paris, 1858 ABOUT, E. Salon de 1864. 
 Paris, 1864 ALEXANDRE, A. Histoire de la peinture militaire en France. Paris 
 [1889] BEAULIEU, C. D. Peintres celebres du xix e siecle. Paris [1894] BELL, N. 
 Representative Painters of the xixth Century. London, 1889 BIGOT, C. Peintres 
 francais contemporains. Paris, 1888 BLANC, C. Les artistes de mon temps. Paris, 
 1876 BURTY, P. Meissonier (in F. G. Dumas' Illustrated Biographies of Modern 
 Artists. Trans, by Clara Bell). Paris, 1882 BURTY, P. Croquis d'apres nature. 
 Paris, 1892 Catalogue d'une exposition des ceuvres de Meissonier, 1893. Paris, 
 jg^ Catalogue des tableaux composant 1' atelier Meissonier. Paris [1893] CHAU- 
 MELIN, M. Portraits d' artistes. Paris, 1887 CHESNEAU, E. La Peinture fra^aise au 
 xix e siecle. Paris, 1862 CLARETIE, J. Portraits contemporains. Paris, 1885 
 COOK, C. Art and Artists of our Time. New York [1888] FORMENTIN, C. Meis- 
 sonier. Paris, 1901 Funerailles de M. Meissonier. Paris [i89i]^GREARD, V. C. O. 
 Meissonier, his Life and his Art. Trans, by Lady Mary Loyd and Florence Simmonds. 
 New York, 1897 GRUYER, F. A. La Peinture au Chateau de Chantilly. Paris, 1898 
 
 LA FORGE, A. D. La Peinture contemporaine en France. Paris, 1856 LARROUMET,G. 
 Meissonier. Paris [1893] MAUCLAIR, C. Great French Painters. Trans, by P. G. 
 Konody. New York [1893] MEYNELL, A. Meissonier (in Meynell's Modern Artists). 
 London, 1883 MOLLETT, J.W. Meissonier. London, 1882 MUTHER, R. History 
 of Modern Painting. New York, 1896 PILLET, C. Exposition Meissonier, 1884. Paris 
 [1884] ROBINSON, L. Meissonier. London [1887] STRANAHAN, C. H. A History 
 of French Painting. New York, 1888 TEMPLE, A. G. The Wallace Collection. Lon- 
 don, 1902 WATROUS, H. W. Meissonier (in Van Dyke's Modern French Masters). 
 New York, 1896 WOLFF, A., AND OTHERS. Notes upon certain Masters of the xixth 
 Century. 1886. 
 
 MAGAZINE ARTICLES 
 
 ACADEMY, 1891: Meissonier AMERICAN ARCHITECT, 1879: A Day with Meis- 
 \. sonier. 1893: S. Beale; Meissonier in London L'ART, 1876: W. Ballu; '1807' 
 
 ATHENJEUM, 1884: J. Claretie; Notes from Paris. 1891: Meissonier. 1898: Review 
 of Greard' s Meissonier CONTEMPORARY REVIEW, 1 899 : V. Verestchagin; Reminiscences 
 of Meissonier COSMOPOLITAN, 1891: G. E. Montgomery; The Master of Genre 
 GAZETTE DES BEAUX-ARTS, 1862: T. Gautier; Meissonier. 1862: P. Burty; Les Eaux- 
 fortes et les bois de Meissonier. 1866: P. Burty; L'CEuvre de Meissonier. 1884: 
 A. Michel; Exposition des ceuvres de Meissonier. 1891: L. Gonse; Meissonier. 1891: 
 E. Bonnaffe; Documents inedits sur Meissonier. 1893: L. de Fourcaud; Exposition des 
 oeuvres de Meissonier. 1893: H. Beraldi; Exposition des ceuvres de Meissonier LIPPIN- 
 COTT'S MAGAZINE, 1874: L. H. Hooper; A Visit to the Studio of Meissonier MAC- 
 MILLAN'S MAGAZINE, 1884: Meissonier MAGAZINE OF ART, 1881: A. Meynell; Our 
 Living Artists. 1885: 'Meissonier Pinxit.' 1891: W. Armstrong; Meissonier. 1893: 
 C. Phillips; The Meissonier Exhibition NATION, 1896: K. Cox; The Paintings of 
 Meissonier NINETEENTH CENTURY, 1898: C. Yriarte; Meissonier, Personal Recollec- 
 tions and Anecdotes PORTFOLIO, 1893: P. G. Hamerton; Meissonier SATURDAY 
 REVIEW, 1891: Meissonier. 1897: Review of Greard' s Meissonier WESTERMANN'S 
 ILLUSTRIERTE DEUTSCHE MONATSHEFTE, 1885: H. Heinecke; Meissonier ZEITSCHRIFT 
 FUR BILDENDE KUNST, 1 866: O. Mundler; Meissonier. 
 
 [378] 
 
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