Close Lightbox Icon

The White Smoker
Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (French, 1815–1891)

Title

The White Smoker

Artist

Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (French, 1815–1891)

Date

1855

Medium

oil on panel

Dimensions

5 1/4 × 4 in. (13.3 × 10.2 cm)

Classification

Painting

Credit Line

Bequest of Francis T. B. Martin

Object Number

1995.42

On View

On view

Provenance

Louis Meyer, before 1913 [1];
His sale in Dresden to a private collector, Leipzig, Germany 1913;
Their sale to Dr. D. Heinemann Galleries, Munich, Germany, before 1932;
Purchased from Dr. D. Heinemann Galleries by Charles W. Martin (1863–1944), Omaha, September 30, 1932–38;
His gift to his nephew Francis T. B. Martin (1904–1995), Omaha, Nebraska, August 29, 1938–1995;
Bequeathed by Francis T. B. Martin Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, Nebraska, 1995.

[1] Likely acquired during the mid-nineteenth century by Meyer, a Russian collector. Undated provenance summary sheet, Joslyn Art Museum, Object File.

Exhibition History

Salon, Paris, June 1849.

Published References

Théophile Gautier, “Salon de 1849,” La Presse, August 8, 1849.

Emil Waldmann, "Gie Meyesche Gealdesammlung in Dresden,” in Mitteilungen aus den Sächsische Kunstsammlungen, vol. 4 (Leipzig, Germany: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1913), 85.

Constance Cain Hungerford, Ernest Meissonier: Master in His Genre (Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1999), 60, 224.

Taylor J. Acosta, European Paintings and Sculpture from Joslyn Art Museum (Omaha: Joslyn Art Museum, 2020), 142–143, (repro.).