Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (; 21 February 181531 January 1891) was a French
academic
An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...
painter and
sculptor
Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...
. He became famous for his depictions of
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...
and his
military
A military, also known collectively as armed forces, is a heavily armed, highly organized force primarily intended for warfare. Militaries are typically authorized and maintained by a sovereign state, with their members identifiable by a d ...
siege
A siege () . is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition, or by well-prepared assault. Siege warfare (also called siegecrafts or poliorcetics) is a form of constant, low-intensity conflict charact ...
s and
manoeuvres in paintings acclaimed both for the artist's mastery of fine detail and his assiduous craftsmanship. The English art critic
John Ruskin
John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
examined his work at length under a magnifying glass, "marvelling at Meissonier's manual dexterity and eye for fascinating minutiae." Meissonier enjoyed great success in his lifetime, becoming, with
Gérôme and
Cabanel, one of "the three most successful artists of the
Second Empire."
Meissonier's work commanded enormous prices and in 1846 he purchased a great mansion in
Poissy, sometimes known as the Grande Maison. The Grande Maison included two large studios, the ''atelier d'hiver'', or ''winter workshop'', situated on the top floor of the house, and at ground level, a glass-roofed annexe, the ''atelier d'été'' or ''summer workshop''. Meissonier himself said that his house and temperament belonged to another age, and some, like the critic Paul Mantz for example, criticised the artist's seemingly limited repertoire. Like
Alexandre Dumas
Alexandre Dumas (born Alexandre Dumas Davy de la Pailleterie, 24 July 1802 – 5 December 1870), also known as Alexandre Dumas , was a French novelist and playwright.
His works have been translated into many languages and he is one of the mos ...
, he excelled at depicting scenes of chivalry and masculine adventure against a backdrop of pre-
Revolutionary
A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society.
Definition
The term—bot ...
and pre-industrial France, specialising in scenes from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century life.
Biography
Ernest Meissonier was born in
Lyon
Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...
. His father, Charles, had been a successful businessman, the proprietor of a factory in Saint-Denis, north of Paris, that made dyes for the textile industry. He expected Ernest, the eldest of his two sons, to follow him into the dye business. Yet from his schooldays Ernest showed a taste for painting, to which some early sketches, dated 1823, bear witness. After being placed with a druggist in the
Rue des Lombards, at age seventeen, he obtained leave from his parents to become an artist. Following the recommendation of a painter named Potier, himself a second class
Prix de Rome, he was admitted to
Léon Cogniet's studio. He also formed his style after the
Dutch masters as represented in the
Louvre
The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...
.
He paid short visits to Rome and to
Switzerland
Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
, and exhibited in the
Salon of 1831 a painting then called ''Les Bourgeois Flamands'' (''Dutch Burghers''), but also known as ''The Visit to the Burgomaster'', subsequently purchased by Sir
Richard Wallace, in whose collection (at
Hertford House, London) it is, with fifteen other examples of this painter. It was the first attempt in France in the particular genre which was destined to make Meissonier famous: microscopic painting miniature in oils. Working hard for daily bread at illustrations for the publishers Curmer, Hetzel and Dubocherhe, Meissonier also exhibited at the
Salon of 1836 with ''Chess Player'' and the ''Errand Boy''.
In 1838 Meissonier married a Protestant woman from
Strasbourg
Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...
named Emma Steinhel, the sister of M. Steinheil, one of his artistic companions. Two children were born in due course; Thérèse (1840), and Charles. On the birth registration of his daughter he described himself as a "painter of history".
After some not very happy attempts at religious painting, he returned, under the influence of
Antoine-Marie Chenavard, to the class of work he was born to excel in, and exhibited with much success the ''Game of Chess'' (1841), the ''Young Man playing the 'Cello'' (1842),'' Painter in his Studio'' (1843), ''The Guard Room'', the ''Young Man looking at Drawings'', the ''Game of Piquet'' (1845), and the ''Game of Bowls'', works which show the finish and certainty of his technique, and assured his success.
Meissonier became known as the ''French Metsu'', a reference to the seventeenth-century Dutch painter
Gabriel Metsu, who specialised in miniature scenes of bourgeois domestic life; "grandiose history paintings did not sell as readily as smaller canvases such as landscapes or portraits, which fitted more easily onto the walls of Paris apartments". He specialised in scenes from seventeenth- and eighteenth-century life, portraying his ''bonshommes'', or ''goodfellows'' - playing chess, smoking pipes, reading books, sitting before easels or double basses, or posing in the uniforms of musketeers or halberdiers
all executed in microscopic detail. Typical examples include ''Halt at an Inn'', owned by the
Duc de Morny and ''The Brawl'', which was owned by
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
.
After his ''Soldiers'' (1848) he began ''A Day in June'', which was never finished, and exhibited ''A Smoker'' (1849) and ''Bravos'' (''Les Bravi'', 1852). In 1855 he touched the highest mark of his achievement with ''The Gamblers'' and ''The Quarrel'' (''La Rixe''), which was presented by
Napoleon III to the English Court. His triumph was sustained at the Salon of 1857, when he exhibited nine pictures, and drawings; among them the ''Young Man of the Time of the Regency'', ''The Painter'', ''The Shoeing Smith'', ''The Musician'', and ''A Reading at Diderot's''. When, in the summer of 1859, Emperor Napoleon III, together with
Victor Emmanuel II King of Piedmont and Sardinia, tried to oust the
Habsburgs from their territories in northern Italy, Meissonier received a government commission to illustrate scenes from the campaign. ''
The Emperor Napoleon III at Solferino'' took Meissonier more than three years to complete. The work, a battle scene, represented something of a departure for the painter of ''bonshommes'' and musketeers though Meissonier had already painted scenes of violence and massacre, such as ''Remembrance of Civil War'', and in
1848 had indeed seen active service as a captain in the National Guard, when he fought on the side of the republican government during the ''
June Days''. In autumn 1861 he was elected to a chair in the when the members of the voted for him to join their number. To the Salon of 1861 he sent ''A Shoeing Smith'', ''A Musician'', ''A Painter'', and ''M. Louis Fould''; to that of 1864 ''The Emperor at Solferino'', and ''1814''. He subsequently exhibited ''A Gamblers' Quarrel'' (1865) and ''
Desaix and the Army of the Rhine'' (1867).
In June 1868 Meissonier travelled to
Antibes
Antibes (, , ; ) is a seaside city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department in Southeastern France. It is located on the French Riviera between Cannes and Nice; its cape, the Cap d'Antibes, along with Cap Ferrat in Saint-Jean-Ca ...
with canvas and easel, together with his wife, son and daughter, and two of his horses, Bachelier and Lady Coningham. He may have been attracted there for historical reasonsin 1794 Napoleon had been imprisoned in
Fort Carré, and in 1815, returning from exile on
Elba in 1815 he had come ashore at Golfe-Jouanand the island of Sainte-Marguerite where the
Man in the Iron Mask was imprisoned 1686–1698, was a little out to sea.
The light of the south attracted Meissonnier. "It is delightful to sun oneself in the brilliant light of the South instead of wandering about like gnomes in the fog. The view at Antibes is one of the fairest sights in nature." And it is possible that the influence of ''plein-air'' landscapists had encouraged Meissonier to abandon for a while his obsession with historical authenticity in favour of something more spontaneous: " of creating eye-catching visual effects by means of a few salient touches of the brush. If these Antibes landscapes never matched
the work of
Pissarro, they nonetheless revealed Meissonier as a painter of remarkable versatility whose ambitions were not entirely at odds with those of the École des
Batignolles."

Meissonier worked with elaborate care and a scrupulous observation of nature. Some of his works, as for instance his ''1807'', remained ten years in course of execution. To the great
Exhibition of 1878 he contributed sixteen pictures: the portrait of
Alexandre Dumas fils which had been seen at the Salon of 1877, ''
Cuirassiers of 1805'', ''A Venetian Painter'', ''Moreau and his Staff before Hohenlinden'', a ''Portrait of a Lady'', the ''Road to La Salice'', ''The Two Friends'', ''The Outpost of the Grand Guard'', ''A Scout'', and ''Dictating his Memoirs''. Thenceforward he exhibited less in the Salons, and sent his work to smaller exhibitions. Being chosen president of the
Great National Exhibition in 1883, he was represented there by such works as ''The Pioneer'', ''The Army of the Rhine'', ''The Arrival of the Guests'', and ''Saint Mark''.
On 24 May 1884 an exhibition was opened at the
Petit Gallery of Meissonier's collected works, including 146 examples. As president of the jury on painting at the
Exhibition of 1889 he contributed some new pictures. In the following year the ''New Salon'' was formed (the ''
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts''), and Meissonier became its president. He exhibited there in 1890 his painting ''1807''; and in 1891, shortly after his death, his ''Barricade'' was displayed there.
A less well-known class of work than his painting is a series of
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other type ...
s: ''The Last Supper'', ''The Skill of Vuillaume the Lute Player'', ''The Little Smoker'', ''The Old Smoker'', the ''Preparations for a Duel'', ''Anglers'', ''Troopers'', ''The Reporting Sergeant'', and ''Polichinelle'', in the Hertford House collection. He also tried
lithography
Lithography () is a planographic method of printing originally based on the miscibility, immiscibility of oil and water. The printing is from a stone (lithographic limestone) or a metal plate with a smooth surface. It was invented in 1796 by ...
, but the prints are now scarcely to be found. Of all the painters of the century, Meissonier was one of the most fortunate in the matter of payments. His ''Cuirassiers'', now in the late
duc d'Aumale's collection at
Chantilly, was bought from the artist for £10,000, sold at Brussels for £11,000, and then resold for £16,000.
Besides his genre portraits, he painted some others: those of ''Doctor Lefevre'', of ''Chenavard'', of ''Vanderbilt'', of ''Doctor Guyon'', and of ''Stanford''. He also collaborated with the painter
Français in a picture of ''The Park at St Cloud''.
Meissonier was attached by Napoleon III to the imperial staff, and accompanied him during the campaign in Italy at the beginning of the war in 1870. During the
Siege of Paris (1870–1871)
The siege of Paris took place from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871 and ended in the capture of the city by forces of the various states of the North German Confederation, led by the Kingdom of Prussia. The siege was the culmination of the F ...
he was colonel of a regiment de marche, one of the improvised units thrown up in the chaos of the
Franco-Prussian war
The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 Janua ...
. In 1840 he was awarded a third-class medal, a second-class medal in 1841, first-class medals in 1843 and 1844 and medals of honour at the great exhibitions. In 1846 he was appointed knight of the
Légion d'honneur
The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...
and promoted to the higher grades in 1856, 1867 (June 29), and 1880 (July 12), receiving the Grand Cross in 1889 (October 29).
He nevertheless cherished certain ambitions which remained unfulfilled. He hoped to become a professor at the
École des Beaux-Arts
; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts architecture, Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth centu ...
, but the appointment he desired was never given to him. He also aspired to be chosen deputy or made senator, but he was not elected. In 1861 he succeeded Abel de Pujol as member of the Academy of Fine Arts. On the occasion of the centenary festival in honour of Michelangelo in 1875 he was the delegate of the Institute of France to Florence, and spoke as its representative. Meissonier was an admirable draughtsman upon wood, his illustrations to ''Les Conties Rémois'' (engraved by Lavoignat), to Lamartine's ''Fall of an Angel to Paul and Virginia'', and to ''The French Painted by Themselves'' being among the best known. The leading engravers and etchers of France have been engaged upon plates from the works of Meissonier, and many of these plates command the highest esteem of collectors. Meissonier died in Paris on 31 January 1891.
When the
Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts was re-vitalized, in 1890, Ernest Meissonier was elected its first chairman, but he died soon; his successor was
Puvis de Chavannes. The vice-president was
Auguste Rodin.
His son,
Jean Charles Meissonier, also a painter, was his father's pupil, and was admitted to the Légion d'honneur in 1889.
Rue Meissonier, in the 17th Arrondissement in Paris, France, is named after him.
In 2020, Meissonier's painting ''Joueurs d’échecs'' was restituted to the heirs of Marguerite Stern, from whom it was looted under the Nazis.
Gallery
File:Head of a Soldier.jpg, alt=, ''Head of a Soldier'', 1860-1870
File:Siege of Paris.jpg, '' The Siege of Paris'', 1884
File:Napoléon III à la bataille de Solférino..jpg, ''Napoléon III
Napoleon III (Charles-Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was President of France from 1848 to 1852 and then Emperor of the French from 1852 until his deposition in 1870. He was the first president, second emperor, and last ...
at the Battle of Solferino'', 1863
File:Ernest Meissonier - A Game of Piquet.jpg, ''A Game of Piquet'',
1861
File:Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, Jules Pelletier, 1867. Clark Art Institute.tif, ''Jules Pelletier'', 1867. Clark Art Institute
File:Meissonier - Relief After the Battle.jpg, ''Relief after the Battle''
File:Etude de Cheval - Meissonier.jpg, Study of a horse,
jumping at a gallop, n.d.
File:Jean-Louis Ernest Meissonier autoportrait.jpg, Self-portrait, oil sketch,
ca. 1865
File:Ernest Meissonier - End of the Game of Cards .jpg, ''The End of the Game
of Cards'', ca. 1870
File:La marquesa de Manzanedo (Meissonier)2.jpg, ''The Marchioness of Manzanedo'',
1872
File:The Card Players - Ernest Meissonier.jpg, ''The Card Players'',
1872
File:Le Philosophe - Ernest Meissonier.jpg, ''The Philosopher'',
1878
File:Leland Stanford p1070023.jpg, ''Leland Stanford'',
1881
File:Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, Man Reading, 1851. Clark Art Institute.tif, ''Man Reading'', 1851. Clark Art Institute
File:Portrait du Marechal Ney Duc, d'Elchingen - Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier.jpg, Portrait du Marechal Ney, Duc d'Elchingen
File:Meissonier Barricade.jpg, ''Rue de la Mortellerie, June 1848'', 1850 (Louvre)
File:The Card Players MET 60393.jpg, ''The Card Players'', 1863, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:Soldier Playing the Theorbo MET DP140947.jpg, '' Soldier Playing the Theorbo'', 1865, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:A General and His Aide-de-camp MET ep87.15.37.R.jpg, ''A General and His Aide-de-camp'', 1869, Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, colloquially referred to as the Met, is an Encyclopedic museum, encyclopedic art museum in New York City. By floor area, it is the List of largest museums, third-largest museum in the world and the List of larg ...
File:Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, The Musician, 1859. Clark Art Institute.tif, ''The Musician'', 1859. Clark Art Institute
Pupils
*
*
Maurice Courant
*
Édouard Detaille
*
*
Daniel Ridgway Knight
*
Charles Meissonier
*
Louis Monziès
*
Alphonse Moutte
*
Gaylord Sangston Truesdell
See also
*
Military art
*
List of claims for restitution for Nazi-looted art
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
Further reading
Works published up to 1901
* Alexandre, ''Histoire de la peinture militaire en France'' (Paris, 1891)
* Laurens, ''Notice sur Meissonier'' (Paris, 1892)
* Gréard, ''Meissonier'' (Paris and London, 1897)
* T. G. Dumas, ''Maîtres modernes'' (Paris, 1884)
* Ch. Formentin, ''Meissonier, sa vie—son œuvre'' (Paris, 1901)
* J. W. Mollett,
Illustrated Biographies of Modern Artists: Meissonier' (London, 1882)
Contemporary scholarship
* Marc Gotlieb, ''The plight of emulation: Ernest Meissonier and French salon painting'' (Princeton University Press, 1996) ,
* Patricia Mainardi, '' The end of the Salon: art and the state in the early Third Republic'' (Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993)
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meissonier, Ernest
1815 births
1891 deaths
Artists from Lyon
19th-century French painters
French male painters
19th-century French war artists
Academic art
French war artists
Members of the Académie des beaux-arts
Honorary members of the Royal Academy
19th-century French male artists