The enterprising manager of a Paris theater once called upon
Meissonier and asked him to paint a drop-scene for a certain
theater and name his own terms. “You have seen my pictures,
then?” asked Meissonier. “Oh, yes,” exclaimed the manager; “but
it is your name--your name I want; it will draw crowds to my
theater.” “And how large is it you wish this curtain to be?”
inquired the artist. “Ah, well, we will say fifteen meters by
eighteen.” Meissonier took up a pencil and proceeded to make a
calculation. At last he looked up and said with imperturbable
gravity, “I have calculated and find that my pictures are valued
at 80,000 francs per meter. Your curtain, therefore, will cost
you just 21,600,000 francs. But that is not all. It takes me
twelve months to paint twenty centimeters of canvas. It will,
therefore, take me just one hundred and ninety years to finish
your curtain. You should have come to me earlier, monsieur;
I am too old for the undertaking now. Good-morning.”--_Art
Amateur._
(137)
See AGE.