User:Sayerslle/The Campaign of France

The Campaign of France is a painting by Ernest Meissonier. In 1860 a wealthy banker, Gaston Delahante, commissioned a painting for 85000 francs whose subject would be Napoleon's last days as Emperor. the subject was to be Napoleons retreat across france in the early months of 1814. The episode would end with the invasion of paris and naploeons abdication and subsequet exile on Elba. these events were detailed in Adolphe THiers 17th volume of his history, publihed in 1860 - meissonier kept the book beside his pilow and on occasion discussed politics and history with thiers. a regular visitor to the Grande maison. meissonier wanted to capture the aspect of Napoleon that thiers described as " one quality which he thn displayed even to amiracle - unchangeable constancy in misfortune."

Starting work in 1860 Meissonier consulted Adolphe Thiers and interviewed survivors of the 1814 campaign, such as the Duc de Mortemart, one of Napoleon's generals

Meissonier's meticulousness

the saddle - was authentic. it was lent to him by one of Napoleon's nephews, prince Napoleon-Jérome. the riding coat , meissonier borrowed from the Musee des Souverains, and had it copied stich by stitch, Meissonier selected himself as the model for napoleon because he believed his own short, powerful physique matched the emperors. the better to portray the physique of the emperor on horseback Meissonier took to making sketches of himself in the nude. The playwirght Emile Augier surprised him in his studio - and saw meissonier naked but for a suspensoir, a truss used to supprot the scrotum in cases of hernia and gonorrhea. Augier enquired whether meissonier was suffering from a medical condition, to be told 'No, but you see the emperor wore a suspensoir.

meissonier always made numerous preparatory sketches and studies. and these after he ha sworke dout the composition , usually by way of a 3 dimensional scale model of the scene - for this painting, he now sculpted in wax series of models, 6-8 inche shigh of naploleon an dhis generals, and their horses. he arranged these on a wooden platform 4 feet square in his studio. he made models of tumbrils and wagons which he dragge dacross a muddy landscape moulded from clay spread on top of th eplatform - to create the furrow road - yet he conceive dit as a snowscape - this involved much further creativity - acrsoss the clay he had sprinkled finely granultaed sugar, and to add glitter, pinches of salt. When the sugar attracted bees, flour was used as a replacement - until mice arrived. meissonier then staged the painting n alarger scale, in the grounds of his house at Poissy. Work on this full scale mock-up began around the summer of 1861 - models wer hired, costumes made, and a white horse brought to pOissy from the stables o f napoloeon III. flour was raked across the grounds - the model serving for Marshal Ney wore his coat draped over his shoulders lie a cape, a detail Meissonier picked up from a chance encounter in atrain carriage with a medic who had served under ney t the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. when winter brought real snow, meissonier ordered a team of servants to trample the ground and drag carts back and forth , carving out deep ruts.the models, notwithstanding the bitterly cold weaher, were made to pose on horseback an dmeissonier engaged another model to replace himself as Napoleon. whenheproved too stout, meissonier tookhis place again - when friends suggested he retire tot he studio in view f the cold he said he needed to see his models against a backdrop of cloud an d snow to capture the light and atmosphere. by january 1863 it was nearly completed.

External links

• example.com