Meissonier, his life and his art . son was announced by a long string of titles, whereas, for Napoleon,the formula used was simply The Emperor. Observe the effect, the tableau ! He is no longer with his troops, heloses his head, it is the first step downwards . . HIS WORKS 253 The last picture, the fifth, was the departure on board theBellerophon. These five pictures would have contained his whole history. For each of the horses in180J, as for each of the men,I made a separate of truth often impelsme to begin something overagain, after finishing it com-pletely. I often make trialske
Meissonier, his life and his art . son was announced by a long string of titles, whereas, for Napoleon,the formula used was simply The Emperor. Observe the effect, the tableau ! He is no longer with his troops, heloses his head, it is the first step downwards . . HIS WORKS 253 The last picture, the fifth, was the departure on board theBellerophon. These five pictures would have contained his whole history. For each of the horses in180J, as for each of the men,I made a separate of truth often impelsme to begin something overagain, after finishing it com-pletely. I often make trialsketches on a piece of glazedpaper, to see what it will bebest to do finallv; then Ipaint very rapidly. When it was proposedto engrave iSoj, as I hadnot sufficient documents byme (the picture itself hadgone to America), I set towork on a reproduction inwater-colour. But I madeinnumerable changes in themovements of the horses,and in the figures. Theresult was a great many new-studies, which should be com-pared with the earlier MCL li^M ul- A H LSSAK. The Guide, for instance, is quite a different person. That wasa serious business. . The engraver profited greatly by thealteration. 1 myself thought the group of the four Guides quitesatisfactory. I fancied J had jjut the last touch to it. Not at all!Water-colour allowed me to introduce fresher tints. In a work ofart, the result is what we should think of not our own trouble. 254 . MEISSONIER Although I work iinck:r great pressure: from all sides, I am alwaysaltering. I am never satisfied. Perfection lures one on ; the careful study of one thing necessitatesthat of another. Sometimes I fear I may never finish my water-colour, that I shall never be able to get the necessary values in theforeground. ... The best plan would be to keep this, when I have carried it as faras the drawing, then to go away to the country, and give it toa pupil to copy, but I have not one at hand. I have already put inall the white I can. It is such a pit
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookidmeissonierhislif00meis
