id: 151366 accession number: 1983.207 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1983.207 updated: 2024-03-26 01:59:51.461000 Man Smoking, 1800s. Ernest Meissonier (French, 1815–1891). Black chalk and graphite, with stumping, heightened with white gouache?; sheet: 27.8 x 24.2 cm (10 15/16 x 9 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund 1983.207 title: Man Smoking title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1800s creation date earliest: 1815 creation date latest: 1891 current location: creditline: Anne Elizabeth Wilson Memorial Fund copyright: --- culture: France, 19th century technique: black chalk and graphite, with stumping, heightened with white gouache? department: Drawings collection: DR - French type: Drawing find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS * Ernest Meissonier (French, 1815–1891) - artist Ernest Meissonier had little formal or institutional artistic training, having studied only briefly in Cogniet's (q.v.) studio. Meissonier began his career making woodcuts for book illustrations, which must have served his craftsmanship and influenced his tendency toward working in a small format. From the beginning he was inspired by seventeenth-century Dutch and Flemish genre painters, as attested by his first Salon painting, Dutch Burghers (1834, Wallace Collection, London). His subjects would eventually have a more typical French flavor, representing artists, musicians, or members of the bourgeoisie involved in leisurely activities, and mostly in eighteenth-century settings. Meissonier joined the French army during the Austro-Italian War (1859), after which he frequently painted military scenes, such as Napoleon III at Solferino (1863, Musée National du Château de Compiègne). Along with the many small depictions of the soldier's life, Meissonier also produced some military paintings on a grand scale. Such works were his attempt to make history paintings and served to counter the criticism that his subjects were frivolous. His military paintings culminated in a partly finished project of four large canvases depicting events in Napoleon I's military career that occupied him from 1864 through 1876. But no matter the size or subject of his paintings, they were always meticulously executed. The Franco-Prussian War also inspired some important works, such as Ruins of the Tuileries (1871, Musée National du Château de Compiègne). Meissonier's work was extremely popular with the upwardly mobile mercantile elite who appreciated his craftsmanship. Criticism came from artists like Degas (q.v.) and Manet (q.v.), who advocated a more Courbet-like realism, addressing contemporary issues rather than painting idealized reflections of the past. Meissonier led the jury that excluded Courbet (q.v.) from the Salon of 1872 because of his involvement in the Paris Commune in 1871. Yet in 1889 Meissonier was also involved in founding the more progressive artist's organization and exhibitions of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts that seceded from the traditional Société des Artistes Français. Meissonier received many honors and was the first artist to be promoted to the grand croix, the highest rank of the Legion of Honor (1899). --- measurements: Sheet: 27.8 x 24.2 cm (10 15/16 x 9 1/2 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: description: two sheets (joined) of beige(1) laid paper watermarks: inscriptions: inscription: signed, lower right, in black chalk: EM[in ligature]eissonier / [a son frère?] Edouard ; SECONDARY SUPPORT (now removed and lost) (according to note on departmental catalog sheet): lower left, in graphite: 6 [circled] (visible in photgraph) ; VERSO, upper left, in graphite: 210 (visible in photgraph) translation: remark: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: The Year in Review for 1983 opening date: 1984-02-22T05:00:00 The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984). title: French Drawings from the Collection opening date: 1994-12-13T05:00:00 French Drawings from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 13, 1994-March 12, 1995). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * {'description': 'CMA, French Drawings from the Collection (Dec. 13, 1994-Mar. 12, 1995).', 'opening_date': '1994-12-13T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'CMA (listed in file of "West Wing Label Copy, ordered June 20, 1986").', 'opening_date': '1986-06-20T00:00:00'} * {'description': 'CMA, Year in Review for 1983 (Feb. 22-Apr. 8, 1984), cma Bulletin 71 (1984), p. 74 no. 175, illus.', 'opening_date': '1984-02-22T00:00:00'} --- PROVENANCE [Thomas Coville, Inc.] date: footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: digital description: wall description: --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.207/1983.207_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.207/1983.207_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1983.207/1983.207_full.tif