On a Terrace — About This Work
Ernest Meissonier, 1867
About the Work
A costumed man leans over a terrace parapet. Meissonier describes the figure within a small, carefully controlled scene, allowing clothing and posture to evoke a world beyond the immediate setting.
The museum compares the costume with characters from Alexandre Dumas's The Three Musketeers. It places the painting within Meissonier's interest in historical and literary subjects, while stopping short of identifying a particular scene from the novel.
Painted on wood, the work rewards close attention to finish and small relationships. The restrained size makes the encounter with costume, figure and architectural boundary especially concentrated.
The Work
Artist: Ernest Meissonier
Title: On a Terrace
Date: 1867
Medium: Oil on wood panel
Recorded dimensions: 20 × 30.2 cm (W × H)
Collection: Cleveland Museum of Art
Accession number: 1986.68
Print & Presentation
Palatine presentation: 30 × 40 cm Classic Frame, portrait.
The complete artwork is reproduced at its recorded scale, subject only to negligible whole-pixel rounding, without enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion. The surrounding white presentation area accommodates the artwork within the framed presentation and is incorporated into the print rather than added as a separate mount.
Frame finishes: Black, White or Natural.
Paper & glazing: Enhanced Matte + Perspex; or Enhanced Matte + Moth-Eye.
Why Original Scale?
Most art-print shops offer the same image in a choice of Small, Medium and Large sizes. We take a different approach. For each edition, we begin with the recorded dimensions of the original work and reproduce the complete image at that scale, preserving its proportions and avoiding enlargement, reduction, cropping or distortion.
Source: Image: The Cleveland Museum of Art, CC0. Bequest of Clara Louise Gehring Bickford. 1986.68.
Care: Display in a dry interior away from prolonged direct sunlight and sources of moisture.
Notes from Palatine
If you would like to stay with us, Notes from Palatine is an occasional letter about newly added works, artists and the thinking behind the collection. There is no fixed schedule; we write when there is something worth sharing.
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