Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1890-06-07
HOW MISSIONER PAINTS.
At Work Mounted on q stuffed Horse ol
Top ola Tower.
From, tho philadelnhia press

At Work Mounted on stuffed Horse on
Top ofa Tower.
From the Philadelphia Press.
A correspondent writing of Meissonier
ten or twelve years ago gave the following
anecdote of the painter while ut work on
the lsl4, which was sold lately In Paris for
$4,000.
"One cannot imagine how much pains
his 1914 cost him. In biting cold winter
day the writer had gone to Poissy together
with the celebrated art critic, Paul Burty.
1t was showing, and there was a foot Of
snow on tho ground. We found Meis-
sonier on the turret of his chalet, seated in
the war costume of Napoleon !, on stuffed
gray horse, and painting the figure Of the
emperor as 1t was rendered by large
mirror that stood at some distance from
him. He had been there three hours, un-
happy, as he said, because he had found
the sinister tones of Russian landscape.
Paul Burty ventured to remark that as he
had already finished painting the landscape
he might withdraw and continue his work
in the studio, without exposing himself to
Army How could obtain In the studio
Meissonier quite excitedly rejoined, the
right tone and the true effect of Napoleon's
gray coat in harmonious contrast with the
sombre grays of the sky and the snowy
carpet on the ground, and the just value OF
nance, darkened by the dull atmosphere
of winter sky?' 1t was there on the top
of that turret, that he completed what Is
perhaps his masterpiece.
about month later the writer found
Meissonier in his stndio scraping the same
figure of Napoleon, to paint which he had
endured so many hours ofa freezing tenn
perature. What on earth are you doing
nowH asked, almost bewildered. An
old servant of the Emperor has been here,
Meissonier replied, who was with him in
Russia. He had tears in his eyes, and
spent good hour in silent contemplation
before my picture. After l had coaxed him
for long while to tell me whether he
found anything inexact in the canvas, the
good old man finally said: During the
campaign of Russia his majesty wore the
uniform of the Chasseurs, not that Of the
Grenadiers. Moreover, his majesty never
consented to have his epaulette unfastened
tor his tunic. That will explain to you
WHY the armholes of his overcoat were SO
large had painted Napoleon in the uni
form of the Grenadiers, and with the
epaulettes outside of his coat. How could
Ihelp doing what am now doingr Thus,
love oftruth overbalanced all other con-
siderations. and Meissonier began study
ing anew the uniform of the Chasseurs, the
effect produced by the epaulettes under
the overcoat, and SO on, until he obtained
the same perfection he had reached in the
accessories of his previous portrait, This
conscientiousness, perseverance, and love
of the truth explain the artistic value of
Meissonier's works"
Meissonier is said to have contracted
severe complaint, while at work on his
picture, in making his studies from horses
which were led to and fro for hours through
depths of snow and mud. His reward
was the drawing of a walking group with
more truth of action and movement than
can perhaps be found in any other picture
ever painted, and almost rivaling the
realism of instantaneous photography.