It was realism of a very different kind that made public opinion place
Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) on a pinnacle, from which he
has only in recent years been transferred to the more modest position
due to him, for the exquisite minute care he bestowed upon the working
out of insignificant details. Meissonier was a draughtsman and an
illustrator rather than a painter. As a colourist he does not count.
He had no appreciation of values, textures, substances, and surfaces.
Nothing could be more to the point than Manet’s mordant remark that in
Meissonier’s pictures “everything is of iron except the cuirasses.”
Still, the mind that finds delight in small things will dwell with
pleasure upon the microscopic details of his little costume pictures
_The Flute Player_ (No. 2887), _The Poet_ (No. 2889), and several
similar “gems” at the Louvre. Strangely enough the _Portrait of Mme.
Gerriot_ (No. 2965), which he painted at the age of nineteen, has more
breadth and real character than any of his later works. The chief task
of Meissonier’s life was the glorification of Napoleon I.’s campaigns.
Of this famous series the Louvre includes no example. On the other
hand, the collection owns three important historical pictures from his
brush in _Napoleon III. at Solferino_ (No. 2957), which long hung in
the Luxembourg Gallery, _Napoleon III. surrounded by his Staff_ (No.
2958), and _The Siege of Paris_ (No. 2969), in the painting of which he
had at least the advantage of personal experience, as he had followed
the Emperor’s army on the Italian campaign, and was in Paris during the
siege. Altogether the Louvre owns no fewer than twenty-nine paintings
by Meissonier.