The Portland daily press., 1888-07-24

book. This work paid him-a fair price.
More than that, it brought him into public
notice and secured him his first friend. This
was M. Tony Johannot He said to Nj.
Meiissonnier; MY friend, you are great
master. of course. you don't need to do so.
50 lar as your work is concerned, for you are
ALREADY able to give lessons to any of u.s.
but TO secure standing and reputation
you must at least go through the form of
sIuuylng 80 he introduced M. MeissOnier
TO Leon Cogniet, who was one of the most
popular masters of the day. though his sole
Title 10 remembrance now is the fact that he
was Tor time the master of NJ. Meissonier.
AT TINS time literature and art in France
were divided into two warning sections, the
Classical and the Romantic. The former
was the established school. 1t controlled the
institute and the salon, and c0ntemptuously
shut out all the writers and artists who did
not conform to the classical models. The
Romantic school, however, was rising and
| growing force. Victor Hugo was, of course,
| its leader in literature. Delacroix was its
leader in art. GrOs was the great classical
| painter of the day, and he was so bewildered
by the growth OF the Romantic school that he
| killed himself to avoid the rising tide which
was sweeping away his idols. But before
| doing so he sent for DelacroiX in whom he
| recognized a triumphat rival. "My friend"
he said, Il have sent for you to tell you
what think of your work. Your eoloring is
Meissonier did not attempt to identify him
self with either school. He became a close
friend of Delacroix, but would not deign to
initiate or follow him. On the other hand,
Delacroix recognized Meiss0nier's great pow
ers, and said to him one day: "You alone are
really great painter" Indeed, M. Meisso-
nier from the out set formed school of his
own. His first salon picture was exhibited
in 1888. Every other picture in the salon
was either classical or romantic, and before
every one of them the conflicting critics
waged their wordy war. But when they
came to Nj. MeissOnier's canvas the voices of
faction were pushed. This picture was some
thing new. 1t was not classic. 1t was not
romance. 1t was art.
1t was not until 1858 that M. Meissonier
made an overwhelming impression upon the
art world and placed himself indisputaby in
the foremost rank of living painters. He
exhibited in that year four pictures They
were all great works. They were as differ
| ent each from the other in style and sub
| jeet as pictures could be. Yet each was alb
| soutely masterpiece. "There was not one
of Them" said Gautier, shat any other ar
| fist in the world could have improved up
| on" From this time forward Nj. Messon-
| Ter was the favorite Of both fame and for
| tune, and when he sold his "1S07'' to Mr.
AlexanderT. Stewart for 100000. the highest
price by far that had ever at that time been
to hail him as the most successful
painter of the age. | remember that
when he received the 100000 he re-
marked with smile, do you know what
my first Salon picture fetched? just $20."
The 1907 by the way, never was exhibited
here. Mr.. Stewart took it to America as
soon as it was finished, and few here have
ever seen it, M. MISSIONER says that he
| spent the best part of his time on it for fif-
| teen years. And it is a small picture, too.
Many have called it his best work, and UNI
| til lately he has so considered it himself.
But now he gives the preference to ia
Rixe," which is the property of the Queen of
by Napoleon Ill, for $4,000, and presented
| to the Prince Consort. Another painting
which the artist prefers to "1S07" is his
'lSl4, which represents Bonaparte and his
army on the disastrous retreat from Moscow.
But these three works are unquestionably
the masterpieces of Nj. MISSIONER.
AS Is we'll lsaaMn. he makes wax or other
models of nearly all the ngures in his paint
| ings, especially all the figures of animals. In
| his house is perfect museum of such mod
| els, including men, cannon, coaches, horses
| and other subjects He paints from these
| day, ito paint 2 prancing horse. For that
purpose | haG horse brought to me eve
| ry day and made to prance. What was tie
result? 1t actually killed the horse Then
| / made up my mind to make wax models. So
you see am a sculptor before = am paint
of his pictures, he said '-'"Do you know how
got that shadow there? Well, first | made
this model of TIE horse himself and painted
him in the picture. Then spread sheet
OF paper on the table in the strong sunlight
and stood the model on it in the exact posi-
ton, with relation to the sun, that the horse
has in the painting. Then had, of course.
| my shadow, and quickly traced it as it lay
On the paper, and afterward copied it from
the paper upon the canvas"