JEAN-LOUIS-ERNEST MEISSONIER (Lyon, 1815-1891) "Souvenirs... Lot 34

JEAN-LOUIS-ERNEST MEISSONIER (Lyon, 1815-1891) "Souvenirs du siège or Episode of the Siege of Paris", 1871. Oil on panel. No signature. Published in "Mariano Fortuny", Ediciones Catalanas, by González López and Martí Ayxelá, 1989. vol I. p.82. It has flaws in the frame. Attached is a certificate issued by the Amatller Institute of Hispanic Art signed by Carlos González. Measurements: 24 x 34 cm.; 37 x 45 cm.(frame). In this war scene, Meissonier displays his celebrated technical and compositional skill through a meticulous description of the military siege of a railway station. The troops are spread out in a wide choral gallery: fallen bodies, others holding their weapons, firing or climbing into the moving carriages.... In the distance, the urban architecture is silhouetted. The smoke from the factory chimneys merges with that of the locomotive, giving the scene a certain poetic varnish, despite the use of a deliberately realistic language. Meissonier was born in Lyon in 1815 and moved to Paris at a young age, where his father's business success provided Meissonier with material ease for the rest of his life. With his father's support he began his formal studies in drawing with Jules Potier. From his beginnings it can be traced that in 1831, at the age of 16, he exhibited the painting Les Bourgeois Flamands, which was later acquired by Sir Richard Wallace. He specialised in history painting with military themes and is famous for his depictions of Napoleon, his armies and military subjects. He documented sieges and manoeuvres and was the teacher of Jean Baptiste Édouard Detaille. Meissonier enjoyed great fame during his lifetime and was acclaimed for the mastery and detail of his painting. The English art critic John Ruskin carefully analysed his creations and marvelled at Meissonier's skill and his eye for capturing fascinating details. It was from 1840 onwards that his works became increasingly valued among the new bourgeoisie and aristocracy of the time. Under Chenavard's influence, he achieved great success with the exhibitions Chess Game (1841), The Young Man Playing the Cello (1842), The Painter in his Studio (1843), The Guard Room, The Young Man Looking at Paintings, A Game of Piquet (1845), and The Game of Bowls. He illustrated the works of Honoré de Balzac. He was an academic painter, famous for his genre, military and portrait subjects, painted with a rapid yet precise brushstroke. He is buried in Poissy, the town where he lived from 1846 onwards and of which he was mayor. A portrait of him, The Marchioness of Manzanedo, is in the Prado Museum in Madrid. In 1847 Queen Victoria bought the painting Les Trois Amis (The Village Politicians) as a gift for Prince Albert. In the 1850s he reached the peak of his career when his The Players and the Fight (La Rixe) was presented to the English court by Napoleon III in 1855, and for the 1857 Salon he exhibited a total of nine paintings and drawings. 1 Napoleon III decided to include Meissonier on the imperial staff, where he served during the Italian campaign, and at the beginning of the war of 1870. During the siege of Paris in 1871 he was colonel of a marching regiment.