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The cardinal
(c. 1880)
Medium
oil on wood panel
Measurements
(15.8 × 13.4 cm)
Credit Line
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
Gift of Brenda Mouritz, 2021
Gallery location
19th Century European Paintings Gallery
Level 2, NGV International
About this work
Emile Meyer worked in mid to late nineteenth century France, having trained under Pierre Puvis de Chavannes. Meyer exhibited occasionally at the Paris Salon from 1880 onwards. He was a Realist artist who painted a vast range of subjects including history paintings, allegories, landscape, genre paintings, portraits, and he specialised in images of horses. He also practiced a particular a sub-genre of emblematic images of scarlet robed Catholic Cardinals. Such images were remarkably popular at the time, particularly in France and Italy, and quite a number of artists produced such works. The Cardinal is in near perfect condition with an exquisitely painted and refined technique close to that of a miniaturist.