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Campaign of France 1814, Napoleon on
Campaign by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier. Showing Napoleon with his 1st
Empire army, his generals and infantry during the successive battles
across France in 1814 before his abdication.
Napoleon on Campaign by Meissonier.
Showing Napoleon and his Generals, often referred to as the Retreat
From Moscow.
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Napoleon on Campaign by Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier.
Showing Napoleon and his Generals, often referred to as the Retreat From Moscow.
Open edition print. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £51.00
Open edition print. Image size 21 inches x 14 inches (53cm x 36cm). Price £43.00
Limited edition of 200 giclee canvas prints. Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £390.00
**Open edition print. (One copy reduced to clear) Image size 30 inches x 20 inches (76cm x 51cm). Price £40.00
**Open edition print. (One copy reduced to clear) Image size 21 inches x 14 inches (53cm x 36cm). Price £30.00
ITEM CODE DHM0056
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Artist
Information:
Jean
Louis Ernest Meissonier
Born in Lyons on 20th February, 1813, he served for a short period in a chemist
shop but his interest in art quickly became apparent to his parents who arranged
for him to enter the studios of various artists. He first exhibited at the Salon
in 1835 and became a regular exhibitor throughout the 1840's and 1850's showing
various non-military scenes. However, these pictures were enough to establish
his reputation and he was invited by Napoleon 111 to join the Imperial Staff on
the expedition to Italy in 1859. Inspired by what he witnesses, Meissonier began
to paint military scenes from the war such as The Emperor at Solferino, which
was shown at the 1864 Salon, and The Emperor and his staff.
Six years later, France went to war with Prussia and the emperor once again
turned to Meissonier for his services. While initially accepting the offer, the
artist soon became discouraged by the growing defeats of the army and declined
to become further involved but not before narrowly escaping being besieged in
Metz. It was at this time that he developed his penchant for Napoleonic subjects
as a way of glorifying France's military past in the wake of the disastrous
defeat in 1871 and the subsequent horrors of the Paris Commune. Inspired by the
first Napoleon, Meissonier developed the idea of creating a cycle of pictures
dramatising the great soldier from his rise to his fall. The five pictures would
each depict a moment in the emperor's life during the years 1796, 1807, 1810,
1814 and 1815, but in fact only three canvases were finished. In his picture,
1807, the artist depicted a moment during the final phase of the battle of
Friedland when the Emperor and his staff reviewed the 12th Regiment of
Cuirassiers as they charged past. For 1814, he arranged for horses to be marched
back and forth in snow and mud so that he could sketch - and became quite ill in
the process. In the picture, a grim-faced Napoleon leads his disheveled troops
in retreat to avoid confrontation with the enemy.
These pictures established him as perhaps one of the greatest military painters
France had ever seen and he was a major source of inspiration to Detaille and de
Neuville before he died in Paris on 31st January, 1891
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