The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 19, 2024

On a Terrace

On a Terrace

1867
(French, 1815–1891)
Framed: 50.5 x 40 x 8 cm (19 7/8 x 15 3/4 x 3 1/8 in.)

Did You Know?

Meissionier was known for his masterful draftsmanship and scrupulous attention to detail. He amassed a "work library" of accessories from local costume markets to ensure that the subjects in his paintings were authenticity attired.

Description

Trained as a printmaker and book illustrator, Meissonier specialized in small paintings depicting scenes from French history and literature. This painting on wood panel depicts a man dressed like a character from The Three Musketeers (published in 1844) by Alexandre Dumas père. Such paintings, admired for their technical virtuosity and romantic subjects, were immensely popular. Meissonier also painted contemporary military subjects and themes and became an arch-foe of the Realist painter Gustave Courbet.
  • Ernest Secrétan [1836-1899], Paris, France
    (Georges Petit Gallery, Paris, France, March 15, 1908, sold to to F. F. van der Doucht, Brussels, Belgium, according to Knoedler sale book no. 7, p. 270, 15 March 1908).
    by 1893
    (E. Le Roy & Co., by 1893, according to exh. cat., Georges Petit, 1893).
    (Le Roy consigned it to Knoedler & Co., Paris, France, stock no. 8878a.)
    1897-1899
    (Knoedler & Co., New York, NY, March 15, 1899, sold to Samuel L. Bronson)
    1899-1901
    Samuel L. Bronson [1834-1917] New Haven, CT
    1901-1908
    (Bought back by Knoedler, 8 May 1901 (stock number 9444) and sold 10 March 1908 to Thomas Henry Burchell)
    1908-1910
    Thomas Henry Burchell [-1942] New York, NY, sold it back to Knoedler, November 3, 1910 (stock number 12199).
    1910-1911
    (Knoedler Gallery, New York, NY, April 15, 1911, sold to Frederick Gehring)
    1986
    Clara Louise Gehring Bickford [1903-1985] Cleveland, OH, by bequest to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1986-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Complete Works of E. Meissonier: With Biography. New York, NY: J.W. Bouton, 1884.
    Meissonier, Jean Louis Ernest. The Complete Works of E. Meissonier: With Biography. New York: J.W. Bouton, 1884. Reproduced: pl. xlii
    Chaumelin, Marius. Portraits d'Artistes. Paris: C. Marpon et E. Flammarion, 1887. Mentioned: P. 51, no. 137
    Gréard, Octave. Meissonier, His Life and His Art. New York. NY: A.C. Armstrong, 1897. Reproduced: p. 194
    Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1986." The Bulletin of The Cleveland Museum of Art LXXIV, no. 2 (February, 1987):39-79. Reproduced: on cover; Mentioned: p. 62, no. 39
    Chong, Alan. European & American Painting in the Cleveland Museum of Art: A Summary Catalogue. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1993. Reproduced: P. 152
    Gotlieb, Marc. The Plight of Emulation: Ernest Meissonier and French Salon Painting. Princeton, NJ.: Princeton University Press, 1996. Mentioned: p. 188; Reproduced: p. 246, fig. 65
    D'Argencourt, Louise and Roger Diederen. The Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue of Paintings, Part Four; European Paintings of the 19th Century. Cleveland, OH: the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1999. Reproduced: p. 149
    Thion, Stéphane. French armies of the Thirty Years' War. Auzielle, France: LRT, 2008. Reproduced: Cover and Title pages
  • Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987).
    Ernest Meissonier: Rétrospective. Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon, 69001 Lyon, France (organizer) (March 25-June 27, 1993).
    Exposition Meissonier. Galerie Georges Petit, Paris, (1893).
    Sur un balcon, collection de M. Leroy, (1867).
  • {{cite web|title=On a Terrace|url=false|author=Ernest Meissonier|year=1867|access-date=19 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1986.68