Jean Louis Ernest Meissonier, French, 1815-1891
Title: The Bibliophile
Date: 1862
Medium: Oil on panel
Dimensions:
23 x 17 cm
Signed: lower right: E Meissonier 1862
Credit Line: Presented, Sir Alfred Chester Beatty, 1950
Object Number: NGI.4260
DescriptionMeissonier made many paintings depicting men in historical contexts. He favoured the era of Louis XIII and figures like soldiers, writers, and musicians. These pictures romanticised the past and the idea of male camaraderie. In this respect, they were akin to popular novels of the period by Alexandre Dumas such as 'The Three Musketeers' and 'The Count of Monte Cristo'. During the artist’s lifetime, these small figure paintings were much in demand by wealthy collectors.
ProvenancePurchased from the artist by Baron d'Outhoorne; his sale, Paris, 3 February 1870, no. 2 as 'Jeune homme à l'étude'; Baron Springer, Vienna; Sir Alfred Chester Beatty.
Exhibition HistoryExposition Meissonier, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 24 May - 24 July 1884, no.58
Meissonier, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1893
La Peinture Francaise du XIXe Sièclé, Collection Chester Beatty de la Galerie Nationale d'Irlande, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais, 21 January - 27 March 1989; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, 8 April - 5 June 1989; Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, 20 June - 4 September 1989, no.34
Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014
Meissonier, Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, 1893
La Peinture Francaise du XIXe Sièclé, Collection Chester Beatty de la Galerie Nationale d'Irlande, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Calais, 21 January - 27 March 1989; Musée des Beaux-Arts, Quimper, 8 April - 5 June 1989; Musée Sainte-Croix, Poitiers, 20 June - 4 September 1989, no.34
Chester Beatty: The Paintings, Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 7 September 2012 - 31 August 2013; The Hunt Museum, Limerick, 1 February - 30 March 2014