The plight of emulation : Ernest Meissonier and French salon painting
Author(s)
Bibliographic Information
The plight of emulation : Ernest Meissonier and French salon painting
Princeton University Press, c1996
Available at 13 libraries
  Aomori
  Iwate
  Miyagi
  Akita
  Yamagata
  Fukushima
  Ibaraki
  Tochigi
  Gunma
  Saitama
  Chiba
  Tokyo
  Kanagawa
  Niigata
  Toyama
  Ishikawa
  Fukui
  Yamanashi
  Nagano
  Gifu
  Shizuoka
  Aichi
  Mie
  Shiga
  Kyoto
  Osaka
  Hyogo
  Nara
  Wakayama
  Tottori
  Shimane
  Okayama
  Hiroshima
  Yamaguchi
  Tokushima
  Kagawa
  Ehime
  Kochi
  Fukuoka
  Saga
  Nagasaki
  Kumamoto
  Oita
  Miyazaki
  Kagoshima
  Okinawa
  Korea
  China
  Thailand
  United Kingdom
  Germany
  Switzerland
  France
  Belgium
  Netherlands
  Sweden
  Norway
  United States of America
Note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Description and Table of Contents
Description
By the time of Ernest Meissonier's death in 1891, he was among the most famous painters of the nineteenth century. Delacroix, for instance, had hailed him as the "incontestable master of our epoch" and had felt that Meissonier's post-humous reputation would be greater than his own. But Meissonier's renown quickly vanished, and to modernist critics his oeuvre, composed largely of genre and battle paintings, seemed of little value. This provocative study of emulation contests the modernist critique and discloses a new aspect of Meissonier and French Salon painters in general: many of these artists attempted the ultimately impossible task of remaining loyal to their teachers and other predecessors while at the same time escaping their influence. A subtle and gifted painter, Meissonier projected a supremely self-confident public image. Nevertheless, he was obsessed by his efforts to prevail over the past.
Marc Gotlieb examines both Meissonier's career and his painting, paying particular attention to the artist's exploration of genre painting as a new form of expression, to his use of live models, and to his eventually fruitless attempt to complete a massive mural painting that would rival those of the old masters on the grandest scale. Using new approaches from art history, literature, and psychoanalysis, "The Plight of Emulation" offers not only an intellectual biography of an extremely talented artist but also a wide-ranging picture of a fascinating era in European cultural history and a convincing analysis of the final impasse of the French Salon.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations xi Acknowledgments xvii INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE Meissonier at the Pantheon 9 CHAPTER Two Chenavard's Lesson 53 CHAPTER THREE Meissonier's Memory 96 CHAPTER FOUR The End of Emulation 155 CONCLUSION The Sign-painter 185 Notes 203 Index 249
by "Nielsen BookData"