The Judgement of Paris

I recently finished The Judgement of Paris:  The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism by Ross King.  It is the tale of two artists, Édouard Manet and Jean-Louis-Ernest Meisssonier, who were at opposite sides of the art movements in mid-19th Century France.  King tells the story, in an entertaining manner, of the fall of Meissonier and his highly detailed, history and genre paintings, and of the rise of Impressionism.

I don't care for Manet, but I did enjoy the descriptions of his life and those of his contemporaries, and how the politics of the day affected their artistic careers. Unfortunately for Manet, his success did not parallel that of the Impressionists, but came after his death.  Today, he is extremely well-known and admired, while in his own time, his work was often reviled.

Meissonier, on the other hand, I do like.  His painting, The Battle of Friedland, 1807, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is one of my favorite destinations within that institution.  I especially enjoyed hearing about the lengths he went to to create models and full-scale scenes from which to paint, and about his eccentricities as a celebrity/artist.  How sad it is that so few people now know his work, and the savagery with which his work was attacked after his death.

I purchased the book as an audio recording on CD.  It was on AbeBooks, new, for a $1.00, and I listened to the narration while painting outdoors.  Especially at that price, I highly recommend it.