Meissonier, his life and his art . m him. When I askedhim if I had truthfully rendered Napoleons attitude and costume, hetold me that His Majesty would never trouble to unhook hisepaulettes, so as to letthem lie across his chest,as was then the customwhen the over-coat wasworn, but that he had hiscoats made loose enoughto slip on over his epau-lettes. It was Hubert, too,who told me that whenthe Emperor went to hisown room to undress forthe night he always sang Veillons au saint de remijire,and that as he took hisclothes off he threw every-thing, coat, watch, hat,&c., across the room inthe dark
Meissonier, his life and his art . m him. When I askedhim if I had truthfully rendered Napoleons attitude and costume, hetold me that His Majesty would never trouble to unhook hisepaulettes, so as to letthem lie across his chest,as was then the customwhen the over-coat wasworn, but that he had hiscoats made loose enoughto slip on over his epau-lettes. It was Hubert, too,who told me that whenthe Emperor went to hisown room to undress forthe night he always sang Veillons au saint de remijire,and that as he took hisclothes off he threw every-thing, coat, watch, hat,&c., across the room inthe dark. The Emperortook snuff, he said, buthe only just held it tohis nostrils, and a wholeboxful might have beenswept up in any place where he had been for a quarter of an he was most punctilious and neat in his person, something of adandy in his way, he put on a clean pair of breeches every old Due de Mortemart also gave me a great deal of valuableinformation. I have not yet decided upon my Bonapartes gesture . .. 0-, . t*^^ ^^r-t^j^- ^^^ SKETCH, ON A LETTEK. I I 242 MEISSONIER To show him saluting the flag is a fine idea. That imperiousgesture has the further advantage of leaving his head it localises the figure of Bonaparte ; his deep gaze, fixed on theregions of genius and futurity, loses something of its mystery whenturned on some definite object such as this glorious emblem of hiscountry. We no longer see the Man of Destiny, impassible amidstthe delirium of the multitude, absorbed in his own vision, lookingat the present, and sounding the abysses of the future. I must painthim with his hat on his head, bowing before nothing, seeing nothing,indeed, but his dream . . lost in the ideal. . This was my idea when I made the first sketch. This picture I have sketched of Bonaparte in Italy with hisgenerals, Berthier, Murat, Duroc, and other officers, is an episode of1796 or 1798. It dates from before the Consulate, at the beginning ofthe campaign in Italy
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidmeissonierhislif00meis
