Charles Meynier

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.

Detail : Napoleon on the Isle of Lobau

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, Meynier won the second prize in the 1789 prix de Rome competition; Girodet won. He became a member of the Académie de France à Rome. In 1793 he went back to Paris.

He made designs for the bas-reliefs and statues on the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel and the Paris Bourse. From 1816 onward, he was a member of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. In 1819 Meynier was appointed teacher at the École des Beaux-Arts. Like his wife he died of cholera.

Napoleon passing through the Brandenburg Gate after the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (1806). Painted by Charles Meynier in 1810.

• "Milo of Croton", 1795 Oil on Canvas Montreal Museum of Fine Arts Montreal, Quebec
• Nine canvases of the Muses, commissioned by Jean-Baptiste Boyer-Fonfrède, now held at château de Wallenried in Jura, Switzerland. General Nicolas Antoine Xavier Castella de Berlens bought these works.
  • Apollo, God of Light, Eloquence, Poetry and the Fine Arts with Urania, Muse of Astronomy, 1798, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Calliope, Muse of Epic Poetry, 1798, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Clio, Muse of History, 1800, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Erato, Muse of Lyrical Poetry, 1800, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
  • Polyhymnia, Muse of Eloquence, 1800, Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio
• Napoleon in Berlin, 1810, Palace of Versailles