Meissonier, his life and his art . at it, and bought it on the spot forfour hundred thousand francs, with this graceful speech : Tell that this work, which has been restored to France, shallonly leave my collection for the Louvre. The first owner, who, afterenjoying the picture for two years, made a profit of a hundred thousandfrancs without lifting a finger, is not to be pitied ! His friends, playingupon his name, used to call him Le Moissonneur, Messor (TheReaper). At one time he might have said without boasting that if hecould have produced pictures to the value of two million
Meissonier, his life and his art . at it, and bought it on the spot forfour hundred thousand francs, with this graceful speech : Tell that this work, which has been restored to France, shallonly leave my collection for the Louvre. The first owner, who, afterenjoying the picture for two years, made a profit of a hundred thousandfrancs without lifting a finger, is not to be pitied ! His friends, playingupon his name, used to call him Le Moissonneur, Messor (TheReaper). At one time he might have said without boasting that if hecould have produced pictures to the value of two million francs every yearhe could have sold them. His jubilee exhibition was a triumph. He onlyshowed a hundred and thirty of his pictures, but there were at least fourhundred in existence. He had been an indefatigable worker. OutsideFrance he was recognised, not perhaps as the head of the French school,for the French school no longer exists, but as the most representative and The Connoisseurs. (the DLC nAlMALES COLLECTION AT CHANTILLV.). Pi~inred by Chas&epof fens • Fra-ic^ LAST YEARS 109 brilliant of French contemporary painters. In iSSt, on the occasion ofMichelangelos centenary, he was the delegate of the Institute toFlorence, and with deep emotion made a speech in the Piazza dellaSignoria, at the base of the David. His promotion to the dignity ofGrand Cross of the Legion of Honour after the Exhibiton of 1889—thefirst instance of such an award to an artist—was ratified by universalapproval. All this noising abroad of his name sounded pleasantly in hisears. No doubt he was perfectly sincere when, in one of those outburstswhich gave such generous charm to his character, he cried : Glory ! Icare little for it! It gives me as much delight to stand before a Rembrandt,as to say It was I who painted that! If my name were destined toobscurity, and I knew it, I should nevertheless put all my heart andsoul into my work ! But we recognise a still deeper sincerity in thefollowing utteran
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