The Sign-Painter, by Ernest Meissonier, 1872

The Sign-Painter, by Ernest Meissonier, 1872
Identifier: meissonierhislif00meis (find matches)
Title: Meissonier, his life and his art
Year: 1897 (1890s)
Authors: Meissonier, Jean Louis Ernest, 1815-1891 Gréard, Octave, 1828-1904
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : A. C. Armstrong
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Internet Archive



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n out in the course of adiscussion or a conversation, will be found collected together in thesecond part of this volume. To this the reader is also referred for anexposition of Meissoniers theory of art in general. Here we can onlyanalyse the main idea. Art, in its early stages, is simply a mani-festation of the artists soul. Naive and inexperienced, he renders thepassion he feels, and expression Is his first thought. Then, as artgradually perfects Its methods, a canon of beauty takes the place ofthe dramatic sentiment of nature. Now, is it the true function of artto move our passions, or to bring us face to face with the beautiful ?Great as was Meissoniers admiration for beauty, it was passion whichreally appealed to him. The grace, the force, the serenit)-, the superborganisation of the antique struck him more than it touched him. He 6o MEISSONIER did not hc^sitalc in the choicf lictwccn pcrfcjction of workniansliip andintensity of emotion. Trutli of idea, sincerity of passion, even
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THE SIGN-PAINTER. (Water-colour drawing, Metropolitan Musetim, New Yorl<.) imperfectly expressed, seemed to him far above all those masterpiecesof execution which mask poverty of thought. Soul, soul, he wrote, THE MASTER—THE MAN 6i and yet again soul ! This is what we must keep on repeating to theyoung ones. The true object of every work of art is the expression of