12 Works, November 22st. is Charles Meynier's day, his art, illustrated with footnotes #240

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Detail; Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love, c. 1810

Oil on canvas

242 x 206 cm

National Gallery of Canada

Charles Meynier (1763 or 1768, Paris – 1832, Paris) was a French painter of historical subjects in the late 18th and early 19th century. He was a contemporary of Antoine-Jean Gros und Jacques-Louis David.

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Detail; Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love, c. 1810

Oil on canvas

242 x 206 cm

National Gallery of Canada

Wisdom Defending Youth is a complex image, composed with great intelligence and care. A master when it came to painting the human form, Meynier has expressed his figures’ anatomy, poses and gestures with considerable skill, harnessing that same skill to tell the story concisely, clearly and convincingly. It is a work that is taut, poised and controlled, epitomizing many of the precepts of Neoclassical art. Commissioned by Sommariva, the work was exhibited by the collector at the 1810 Salon.

The inspiration for the painting comes from a classic, but now-forgotten text: François Fénelon’s 17th-century The Adventures of Telemachus, which tells story of Ulysses’ son. In a dream, young Telemachus is given a choice: Venus, goddess of love, presents him with the prospect of a life of pleasure and luxury, while Minerva, warrior-goddess of wisdom, offers a life of struggle, virtue and glory. More on this painting

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Milo of Croton Attacked by a Lion, c. 1795

Oil on canvas

Height: 43.9 cm (17.2 in); Width: 35 cm (13.7 in)

Private collection

Milo of Croton was a 6th-century BC wrestler from the Magna Graecian city of Croton, who enjoyed a brilliant wrestling career and won many victories in the most important athletic festivals of ancient Greece.

The date of Milo's death is unknown. According to legend, he was attempting to tear a tree apart when his hands became trapped in a crevice in its trunk, and a pack of wolves (in later versions often changed to a lion) surprised and devoured him. More on Milo of Croton

Charles Meynier

Alexander ceding Campaspe to Apelles, circa 1822

Oil on canvas laid on cardboard

23.8×32.2 cm. 

Private collection

Campaspe was a supposed mistress of Alexander the Great and a prominent citizen of Larissa in Thessaly. 

According to tradition, she was painted by Apelles, who had the reputation in antiquity for being the greatest of painters. The episode occasioned an apocryphal exchange that was reported in Pliny's Natural History: "Seeing the beauty of the nude portrait, Alexander saw that the artist appreciated Campaspe (and loved her) more than he. And so Alexander kept the portrait, but presented Campaspe to Apelles." More on Campaspe

Meynier, Charles (1768-1832)

Alexander the Great (356-323 BC) Hands Over Campaspe to Apelles, 1822

Oil on canvas

Musee des Beaux-Arts, Rennes

Rennes places an order with Charles Meynier for a painting representing Alexandre cédant Campaspe in Apelles. The same year the original painting was released

Charles Meynier

The Departure of Telemachus

1789 Prize of Rome

Oil on canvas

154 cm x 203 cm

Private collection

Within Greek mythology, Telemachus is the son of Odysseus and Penelope. He is a character in Homer’s “Odyssey” whose story is told in the first four books named “The Telemachy”. Telemachus is very young when his father leaves for the Trojan War. Twenty years later, he goes in search of his father who is slow returning from the war. More on Telemachus

At a young age of fifteen, Charles Meynier was taking art lessons from Pierre-Philippe Choffard. Later, as a student of François-André Vincent, Meynier won the second prize in the 1789 Prix de Rome competition and went to Rome to study, he became a member of the Académie de France in Rome.

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

France triumphant encouraging the Sciences and the Arts during the war, c. 1794

Oil on canvas

Height: 65.3 cm (25.7 in); Width: 84.3 cm (33.1 in)

Bibliothèque Paul-Marmottan

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

La France protégeant les beaux-arts sous les auspices de paix

Français : La France sous les traits de Minerve/ France, under the guise of Minerva, Protecting the Arts, c. 1819

Oil on canvas

Height: 815 cm (26.7 ft); Width: 360 cm (11.8 ft)

Louvre Museum

Minerva is the Roman goddess of wisdom and strategic warfare, justice, law, victory, and the sponsor of arts, trade, and strategy. Minerva is not a patron of violence such as Mars, but of defensive war only. From the second century BC onward, the Romans equated her with the Greek goddess Athena. More on Minerva

Study made for the ceiling of the main staircase of the Louvre, which was built in 1809 and designed by Percier and Fontaine. It was commissioned from Meynier in 1818. All that remains of the staircase, which was destroyed in 1855, is the landing, today the Salle Percier et Fontaine, whose vaults and columns provide a glimpse of the fomer decor. More on this painting

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Clio, Muse of History, c. 1800

Oil on canvas

Height: 273 cm (107.4 in); Width: 176 cm (69.2 in)

Cleveland Museum of Art

Like all the muses, Clio is a daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Mnemosyne, goddess of memory. Along with her sister Muses, she is considered to dwell at either Mount Helicon or Mount Parnassos.

Clio, sometimes referred to as "the Proclaimer", is often represented with an open parchment scroll, a book, or a set of tablets. More on Clio

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry, c. 1798

Oil on canvas

Height: 275 cm (108.2 in); Width: 177 cm (69.6 in)

Cleveland Museum of Art

In Greek mythology is the Muse who presides over eloquence and epic poetry; so called from the ecstatic harmony of her voice. Hesiod and Ovid called her the "Chief of all Muses".

Calliope is usually shown with a writing tablet in her hand. At times, she is depicted carrying a roll of paper or a book, or wearing a gold crown. She is also depicted with her children.

Charles Meynier, in his painting of Calliope, agreed with Ovid that a wreath headpiece should be included in the poet-Muse’s wardrobe. Yet, Meynier and Ovid diverged on the Muse’s choice of musical instrument. Whereas Ovid and other ancient sources often described Calliope having a lyre, Charles Meynier’s painting of Calliope features a horn. More on this painting

In 1793 he returned to Paris during the Reign of Terror and started to paint large Neo-Classical works. That same year he entered a competition set by the Committee of Public Safety for the best work on a theme from the French Revolution. Taking the competition itself as his subject, Charles Meynier painted France Triumphant Encouraging The Sciences And The Arts (See above). The painting won a prize, and thereafter Meynier rapidly established his reputation. He made his debut at the Paris Salon in 1795.

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Marshal Ney hands over their flags to the soldiers of the 76th Line Regiment, November 7, 1805, c. 1808

Oil on canvas

Height: 3.6 m (11.8 ft); Width: 5.2 m (17.1 ft)

Palace of Versailles

Michel Ney, 1st Duke of Elchingen, popularly known as Marshal Ney, was a French military commander and Marshal of the Empire who fought in the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. He was one of the original 18 Marshals of the Empire created by Napoleon I. Napoleon characterized him as le Brave des Braves (the Bravest of the Brave), a real paladin in the field, a braggart without judgment and decision in the workroom and after all is said, a Don Quixote. More on Michel Ney

Under the First Empire, he received several public commissions for works celebrating Napoleon's triumphs. In 1806 he produced a series of drawings for bas-reliefs and sculptures to ornament the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris, the monumental entrance to the Tuileries Palace that was built to celebrate Napoleon's victories of 1805. In 1808 Charles Meynier painted Marshal Ney and the Soldiers of the 76th Regiment Retrieving their Flags from the Arsenal of Inspruck (See above), one of 18 works commissioned in 1806 to illustrate Napoleon's German campaign. The work, which depicts the retrieval in 1805 of three flags that had been lost in the campaign of 1800, was highly praised at the Salon in Paris of 1808. In 1807 Charles Meynier was one of 26 artists who entered the competition to paint a scene from the recently fought Battle of Eylau. His Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau won one of the two honorable mentions (See below). 

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Napoleon on the Battlefield of Eylau, 9 February 1807

Oil on canvas

93х146

Château de Versailles

The commanding figure of Napoleon Bonaparte (1769–1821) surveys the carnage after the battle between French troops and combined Russian and Prussian forces at Eylau (now in Russia). Fighting in snow and bitter cold on February 7 and 8, 1807, the armies were deadlocked until the Russians retreated during the night, leaving the French victors by default. The staggering number of dead and wounded on both sides—some 50,000—made this one of the most devastating battles of the Napoleonic Wars.

Downplaying French casualties, Gros showed mostly Russian dead and wounded being tended by French medical officers. Though it fulfilled its role as state propaganda, the painting also presented a horrifically realistic depiction of the bloody costs of war. More on this painting

Charles Meynier  (–1832)

Return of Napoleon to the Isle of Lobau after the Battle of Essling, 23 May 1809, c. 1812

Oil on canvas

473 × 529 cm (15.5 × 17.3 ft)

Palace of Versailles

Napolian's retreat to the Danube island Lobau , 23 May 1809, after a lost battle against the Austrians near Aspern a.Essling

In 1819 Meynier was appointed teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts. Like his wife he died of cholera.

New studies on Charles Meynier now dispute his birth date of 1768 and put it five years earlier at 1763. More on Charles Meynier

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