Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

By the time of Ernest Meissonier's death in 1891, he was among the most famous painters of the nineteenth century. Delacroix, for instance, had hailed him as the "incontestable master of our epoch" and had felt that Meissonier's posthumous reputation would be greater than his own. But Meissonier's renown quickly vanished, and to modernist critics his oeuvre, composed largely of genre and battle paintings, seemed of little value. This provocative study of emulation contests the modernist critique and discloses a new aspect of Meissonier and French Salon painters in general: many of these artists attempted the ultimately impossible task of remaining loyal to their teachers and other predecessors while at the same time escaping their influence. A subtle and gifted painter, Meissonier projected a supremely self-confident public image. Nevertheless, he was obsessed by his efforts to prevail over the past. Marc Gotlieb examines both Meissonier's career and his painting, paying particular attention to the artist's exploration of genre painting as a new form of expression, to his use of live models, and to his eventually fruitless attempt to complete a massive mural painting that would rival those of the old masters on the grandest scale. Using new approaches from art history, literature, and psychoanalysis, The Plight of Emulation offers not only an intellectual biography of an extremely talented artist but also a wide-ranging picture of a fascinating era in European cultural history and a convincing analysis of the final impasse of the French Salon.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Illustrations (p. xi)
• Acknowledgments (p. xvii)
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 Meissonier at the Pantheon
• Chapter 2 Chenavard's Lesson (p. 53)
• Chapter 3 Meissonier's Memory (p. 96)
• Chapter 4 The End of Emulation (p. 155)
• Conclusion The Sign-painter (p. 185)
• Notes (p. 203)
• Index (p. 249)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Gotlieb (art history, Emory University), "drawing on a rich but neglected body of evidence," appraises and examines in depth Meissonier's own reflections and reminiscences and essays on Meissonier by those who knew him--e.g., Baudelaire, Delacroix, Baron Gros, Gautier. Gotlieb elucidates anew the variety of iconographies Meissonier captured in a veristic style. His subject matter consists primarily of genre, military stories, and allegorical and mythological anecdotes. All are prudently investigated in four chapters, an introduction, and a conclusion. The book contains four beautiful color plates and 73 black-and-white reproductions, not only by Meissonier but also by Chenavard, Daumier, Horace Vernet, and many others. Gotlieb's endnotes further inform the serious reader of disparities between aspiration and actualization that are a reality for all artists who are striving to visualize their own time period. The Plight of Emulation will fascinate all scholars of European cultural history as well as the French Salon scene in art. Highly recommended. Graduate; faculty; professional. I. Spalatin East Texas State University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Marc J. Gotlieb is Assistant Professor of Art History at Emory University.