Jean Louis Meissonier Biography

Dromo's Den

MEISSONIER, Jean Louis Ernest (1815-91) A French military and genre painter. He was born at Lyons, Feb. 21, 1815. In 1830 he went to Paris and worked for a short time in the studio of Cogniet, but he received his most valuable training in art from his study of the old masters in the Louvre, especially those of the Dutch school. At first he illustrated books and made etchings as a means of livelihood. His first painting, "The Visitors," was exhibited at the Salon in 1834. In 1843 and 1848 he received first-class medals from the Salon, and in the expositions of 1855, 1867, and 1878 the Grand Medal of Honor. In 1848 he was captain of artillery in the National Guard. He was with Napoleon III at Solferino in 1859, and during the siege of Paris in 1870 he was lieutenant colonel of infantry in the National Guard. He received the cross of the Legion of Honor in 1846 and the Grand Cross in 1889; was chosen a member of the Institute of France in 1861 and president in 1876 and 1891. He died in Paris, Jan. 31, 1891.

His subjects are historical, military, and scenes from everyday life. Most of his pictures are on small canvases and studies of one or two figures. The characters are almost entirely men; in very few of his pictures do women or children appear. He was the chief of a school of genre painters, among the most prominent of whom were his son, Jean Charles, Detaille (q.v.), and Vibert (q.v.). Every detail is as faithfully and carefully studied and portrayed as if it were of sole importance, and sometimes, particularly in his larger pictures, to the detriment of the general effect. His drawing is masterly, the color is fresh and true, and the light and shade excellent; but his paintings usually lack beauty of tone, and their bald realism precludes real inspiration. He excels in the portrayal of action, and in his power to depict the subtlest shades of expression on the faces of his characters. Of his military pictures one of the most famous is "Friedland, 1807" (1875), a large painting in the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Other famous military pictures are: "Cavalry Charge" (1867); "Napoleon III at Solferino" (1864), in the Louvre; "The Retreat from Moscow"; "Napoleon Overlooking a Battle"; "Napoleon and his Staff in 1814" (1864, Louvre).The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (inclusive of the Vanderbilt collection), possesses 12 other paintings by Meissonier and he is excellently represented in the Louvre and in the Wallace collection, London. Among his best-known genre pictures are: "The Quarrel" (1855), belonging to the King of England; "Ball Players at Antibes"; "Amateurs of Painting" (1843, Musée Condé, Chantilly); "The Halt" (1869); "The Chess Players" (1834); "Throwing Dice" (1836); "Man Reading," "Man at a Window," and "The Voyage" (Louvre); "The Farrier" (1861); "The Barricade." He also designed for lithography and was an etcher of note. For his biography, consult: Jules Claretie (Paris, 1884); Larroumet (ib., 1893); Gréard (ib., 1897); Fromentin (ib., 1901); Robinson, in the Art Annual (London, 1887); in Masters in Art, vol. v (Boston, 1904).

The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. XV (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 358-359.