Ross King’s story of the revolutionary decade that gave the world Impressionism is a splendid summer read. I bought this book about a year ago and I am just now finding time to read it. The Judgment of Paris chronicles the period between 1863 to 1875 or so and features the colorful character, Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier. He was easily the world’s wealthiest and most famous painter at that time. He owned a mansion and a grand apartment in Paris, both furnished with obscenely extravagant accoutrements and conveniences.
Meissonier put as much time and energy into his artwork as he did his surroundings. Obsessed with stories of Napoleon Bonaparte’s life and battles, he often dressed in the costumes depicting the Emperor and staged actual battles for re-creating on canvas. Many months of research were spent reconstructing in exact detail each item, coat, or breeches; and if not found at market stalls, then commissioned by tailors.
The Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino became a three year monumental project for Meissonier even after the war ended. This painting illustrates the length at which artists will go to reconstruct a scene accurately. He took a servant and two horses and art supplies to the battlefront and witnessed the bloody fight. Unknowingly, he strayed into harm’s way while documenting the scenes in his sketchbooks with bullets zooming past his head.
Many more studies were finished after the war’s end, and he painted scenes of soldiers and studies of Napoleon III and his horse, Buckingham, to use in the final canvas. Four years after its inception the canvas which measured a mere 30″ by 17″ was complete. The next reconstructed scene on Messonier’s easel was even more grueling and monumental.
Ross weaves this art history story in such a creative manner that it becomes real and very entertaining.
Palimpsest-material used after the erasure of earlier writing. “Perfection lures one on.” Ernest Meissonier
I too read this book this summer. I might pass on that it is available as a book on CDs. After reading the first chapter and realizing this book would take me some time, I went back to the local library and exchanged the book for the CDs so that I could listen to it while I was doing my art. While you don’t get the full impact of all the details creating art while listening to this, the generalities of life in Paris during this period still come out, and they are fascinating. It was recommended by the head of the Idaho Commission on the Arts in our local newspaper, and now I recommend it to all reading this! It would be grand to have experienced the love of art that took place during that time. Thousands of people would flock to the annual art show (and others) in Paris to see the latest. WOW!
I too read this book this summer. I might pass on that it is available as a book on CDs. After reading the first chapter and realizing this book would take me some time, I went back to the local library and exchanged the book for the CDs so that I could listen to it while I was doing my art. While you don’t get the full impact of all the details creating art while listening to this, the generalities of life in Paris during this period still come out, and they are fascinating. It was recommended by the head of the Idaho Commission on the Arts in our local newspaper, and now I recommend it to all reading this! It would be grand to have experienced the love of art that took place during that time. Thousands of people would flock to the annual art show (and others) in Paris to see the latest. WOW!
It is interesting that the topic turns on Meissonier, often derided and forgotten as he lost the battle to the art fashion critics. Over 60 years ago Dali(no stranger to the trendy critics) championed Meissonier in a modern art world that had forgotten how to paint while rushing into new forms of expression. This is essentially the same conflict that painters like yourself call to the arena when you champion the Golden Age Dutch Masters.
When you look up close at Meissonier (or in person) there is nothing slick or finicky about his art; it is an explosion of abstract brushwork. I believe that this is what Dali was pointing to when he noted that Jackson Pollock had nothing on Meissonier.
Good luck Margret putting a shine on the golden apples of Paris.
Interesting irony, “the Judgment of Paris”.