Meissonnier

Meissonnier, Jean Louis Eenest, was born in 1815, but was early taken to Paris, where he studied art under Potior and Cogniet. He exhibited as a youth water-colour and oil-paintings at the Salon, where The Chess-players attracted some notice in 1836; and he soon started that series of minutely-finished and faithful studies from French history, especially in its military aspects, upon which his fame chiefly rests. Napoleon I., Campagne de France, 1814, Cuirassiers, 1805, Friedland, and Solferino are among his most famous efforts, Of his genre pictures La Rixe, La Lecture chez Diderot, La Lecture du Manuscrit, and Les Amateurs de la Peinture deserve special mention. The Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, the membership of the Institute, and the honorary title of Royal Academician were conferred on him in his later years. He died in 1891.