File:Meissonier, his life and his art (1897) (14590960498).jpg

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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A WOMAN RECLINING. (Pen Sketch.) No Raphael fills uswith the intense emo-tion aroused by a Giotto.But then, on the otherhand, nothing can everequal the intoxicatingsense of pure beautyRaphael gives. Thisquestion arises, the discussion of it would be deeply interesting.Art, in the first instance, may be said to be the mere manifestationof what the artist has in his heart : therefore naive and inexperiencedart expresses passion, and this expression overshadows everything else. In proportion to the gradual weaken-ing of this emotion, art becomes moreand more perfect and well ordered. Whata problem we have here ! Should the aimof art be to stir the passions, or should itsfirst object be to bring us face to face withabsolute beauty ? . . .
Text Appearing After Image:
No man should let anything be seen,during his lifetime, but his finished works.The painter puts all of which he is capableinto his pictures. He should not give thepublic the studies, the means which he hasused to do his work. Once he is dead, alas Ithings are different. People will do as they choose then, too oftenwithout thinking much of what he would have wished. PEN SKETCH. 19 MEISSONIER The best face of all is the face from which the soul shinesout. . . . The most beautiful thing we can paint is a woman, and the nude is the most beautiful thing in the world. THE LITTLE MAN IN RED. (Messrs .Arnold and Tripp, Paris.) However well a poetmay sing the beauties ofhis subject, he cannot givethe illusion of life. Butthe painters genius makesthe whole soul shine forever in beloved eyes. The mysterious smileendures; it eludes us nolonger. Minds differ, studies\ary, processes are dis-similar, and personal. Al-though the rules of a com-petition are the same iorall, can we be sure wethereby ju

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