Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier, the world's wealthiest and most famous painter, climbed onto the rooftop balcony of his mansion in Poissy in 1863. He had spent most of the previous two decades living in the Grande Maison, a grandiose house with clusters of balconies, dormer windows, and pink-bricked chimneys. #2 Meissonier's success in the auction rooms was accompanied by a chorus of critical praise and respect from his peers. He was simply the most renowned artist of his time. #3 Meissonier was an artist who specialized in painting horses. He had a huge mansion built between the Gothic church and the remains of the cloister. He did not like the sight of railway stations, cast-iron bridges, modern architecture, and recent fashions such as frock coats and top hats. #4 Meissonier's house was also a studio, and it was here that he painted his famous paintings. He specialized in scenes from seventeenth and eighteenth-century life, portraying an ever-growing cast of silk-coated and lace-ruffed gentlemen playing chess, smoking pipes, reading books, and sitting before easels

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