Henri Frantz

“ He hoped to become a professor at the École des Beaux Arts, but the appointment he desired was never given to him. On various occasions, too, he aspired to be chosen deputy or made senator, but he was not elected. In 1861 he succeeded Abel de Pujol as member of the Academy of Fine Arts. ”

“ A less well-known class of work than his painting is a series of etchings: “The Last Supper,” “The Skill of Vuillaume the Lute Player,” “The Little Smoker,” “The Old Smoker,” the “Preparations for a Duel,” “Anglers,” “Troopers,” “The Reporting Sergeant,” and “Polichinelle,” in the Hertford House collection. He also tried lithography, but the prints are now scarcely to be found. Of all the painters of the century, Meissonier was one of the most fortunate in the matter of payments. ”

“ To the Salon of 1861 he sent “The Emperor at Solferino,” “A Shoeing Smith,” “A Musician,” “A Painter,” and “M. Louis Fould”; to that of 1864 another version of “The Emperor at Solferino,” and “1814.” He subsequently exhibited “A Gamblers’ Quarrel” (1865) , and “Desaix and the Army of the Rhine” (1867) . Meissonier worked with elaborate care and a scrupulous observation of nature. ”