Capet - Portrait de Charles Meynier, MU1511

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 Antoine-Jean Gros (; 16 March 177125 June 1835) was a French painter of historical subjects. He was given title of Baron Gros in 1824. Gros studied under Jacques-Louis David in Paris and began an independent artistic career during the French R ...

and

Jacques-Louis David Jacques-Louis David (; 30 August 1748 – 29 December 1825) was a French painter in the Neoclassicism, Neoclassical style, considered to be the preeminent painter of the era. In the 1780s, his cerebral brand of history painting marked a change in ...

Biography

Meynier was the son of a tailor. Already at a young age he was trained by Pierre-Philippe Choffard. As a student of

François-André Vincent François-André Vincent (; 30 December 1746 – 4 August 1816) was a French neoclassical painter. Biography Vincent was born in Paris in 1746, the son of the miniaturist François-Elie Vincent. He studied under Joseph-Marie Vien and was ...

, Meynier won the second prize in the 1789 ''

prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

'' competition; Girodet won. He became a member of the

Académie de France à Rome The French Academy in Rome (french: Académie de France à Rome) is an Academy located in the Villa Medici, within the Villa Borghese, on the Pincio (Pincian Hill) in Rome, Italy. History The Academy was founded at the Palazzo Capranica in 1 ...

. In 1793 he went back to Paris. He made designs for the

bas-reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term ''relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that the ...

and statues on the

Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel The Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel () ( en, Triumphal Arch of the Carousel) is a triumphal arch in Paris, located in the Place du Carrousel. It is an example of Neoclassical architecture in the Corinthian order. It was built between 1806 and 1808 t ...

and the

Paris Bourse Euronext Paris is France's securities market, formerly known as the Paris Bourse, which merged with the Amsterdam, Lisbon, and Brussels exchanges in September 2000 to form Euronext NV. As of 2022, the 795 companies listed had a combined market ...

. From 1816 onward, he was a member of the

Académie des Beaux-Arts An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, ...

. In 1819 Meynier was appointed teacher at the

École des Beaux-Arts École des Beaux-Arts (; ) refers to a number of influential art schools in France. The term is associated with the Beaux-Arts style in architecture and city planning that thrived in France and other countries during the late nineteenth century ...

. Like his wife he died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

Works

* "Milo of Croton", 1795 Oil on Canvas

Montreal Museum of Fine Arts The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA; french: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, MBAM) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the largest art museum in Canada by gallery space. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square ...

Montreal, Quebec * Nine canvases of the Muses, commissioned by François Boyer-Fonfrède, but after his bankruptcy they were purchased by General Nicolas Antoine Xavier Castella de Berlens and transferred to his château de

Wallenried Wallenried ( French name: Esserts; frp, Èssèrsâ ) is a former municipality in the district of See in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It was one of the municipalities with a large minority of German speakers in a French speaking regio ...

in Jura, Switzerland, where they remained for roughly 180 years. They were subsequently transferred to the Cleveland Museum of Art, where conservator Dean Yoder dedicated five years to cleaning and in-painting the damaged works. They are currently on public display in Cleveland. **''Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy'', 1798,

Cleveland Museum of Art The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...

, Cleveland, Ohio ** ''Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry'', 1798,

, Cleveland, Ohio ** ''Clio, Muse of History'', 1800,

, Cleveland, Ohio ** ''Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry'', 1800,

, Cleveland, Ohio ** ''Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence'', 1800,

, Cleveland, Ohio * ''Napoleon in Berlin'', 1810,

Palace of Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 19 ...

* ''Wisdom Defending Youth from the Arrows of Love'', 1810,

National Gallery of Canada The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the l ...

Notes and references

External links

Exhibition of Meynier's work on ''La Tribune de l'art''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meynier 1768 births 1832 deaths 18th-century French painters French male painters 19th-century French painters Members of the Académie des beaux-arts 19th-century French male artists 18th-century French male artists