Inscription: Signed and dated (lower right): EMeissonier [initials in monogram] 1869
[Francis Petit, 1869; bought from the artist in October for Fr 15,000]; baron Strousberg, Berlin (until 1873); Catharine Lorillard Wolfe, New York (1873–d. 1887)
New York. National Academy of Design. "Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition," December 3, 1883–January 1, 1884, no. 16 (as "General and Adjutant," lent by Miss Catharine Wolfe).
Portland, Oreg. Portland Art Museum. "Fiftieth Anniversary Exhibition, 1892–1842," December 2, 1942–January 3, 1943, no. 52 (as "A General and His Aide de Camp").
New York. Knoedler. "An Exhibition of Paintings and Prints of Every Description, on the Occasion of Knoedler, One Hundred Years, 1846–1946," April 1–27, 1946, no. 66 (as "General and Aide-de-camp").
Toledo Museum of Art. "The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946," November–December 1946, no. 37 (as "A General and His Aide-de-camp").
Art Gallery of Toronto. "The Spirit of Modern France: An Essay on Painting in Society, 1745–1946," January–February 1947, no. 37 (as "A General and His Aide-de-camp").
Edward Strahan [Earl Shinn], ed. The Art Treasures of America. Philadelphia, [1880], vol. 1, p. 125, as "Road near Antibes".
The Complete Works of E. Meissonier with Biography. New York, [1884], vol. 1, pl. XXXV, as "Promenade au bord de la mer".
Philippe Burty in Gustave Larroumet. Meissonier. Paris, [1885], ill. opp. p. 84 (detail), as "Chemin faisant".
Marius Chaumelin. Portraits d'artistes: E. Meissonier, J. Breton. Paris, 1887, pp. 51–52, no. 143, as "Promenade au bord de la mer".
Lionel Robinson. J. L. E. Meissonier, Hon. R. A. London, [1887], ill. p. 23 (half tone, detail), as "Causerie".
"The Wolfe Pictures." New York Times (November 7, 1887), p. 4.
Mrs. Schuyler van Rensselaer. "The Wolfe Collection at the Metropolitan Museum. II." Independent 39 (November 24, 1887), p. 9.
"Gallery and Studio: The Metropolitan Museum of Art." Art Amateur 18 (December 1887), p. 7.
Walter Rowlands. "The Miss Wolfe Collection." Art Journal, n.s., (January 1889), p. 14, as "A General and Adjutant, Shores of Antibes".
"Meissonier in America." The Collector 1 (July 1, 1890), p. 129, as "The Road to Antibes".
"'Meissoniers' Owned by Americans." Art Amateur 24 (March 1891), p. 6, identifles the figures as the artist and his son.
Sophia Antoinette Walker. "Fine Arts: The Painting Master in the Wolfe Collection." Independent 46 (August 2, 1894), p. 12.
"The Metropolitan Museum of Art—The French Painters." New York Times (May 22, 1895), p. 4.
Vallery C. O. Gréard. Meissonier: His Life and his Art. New York, 1897, p. 372, ill. p. 1, as "General and Adjutant, the Salice Road, Antibes" in the caption and "The Salice Road, Antibes" in the list of works.
Frank Fowler. "The Field of Art: Modern Foreign Paintings at the Metropolitan Museum, Some Examples of the French School." Scribner's Magazine 44 (September 1908), p. 382, as "General and Adjutant".
Joseph C. Sloane. French Painting Between the Past and the Present: Artists, Critics, and Traditions, from 1848 to 1870. [reprint 1973]. Princeton, 1951, p. 119 n. 51, as "A General and Adjutant".
Josephine L. Allen and Elizabeth E. Gardner. A Concise Catalogue of the European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1954, p. 66.
Charles Sterling and Margaretta M. Salinger. French Paintings: A Catalogue of the Collection of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Vol. 2, XIX Century. New York, 1966, pp. 151–52, ill., identify the landscape as the Salice Road, along the sea at Antibes, noting that several Meissonier pictures from 1868 depict the same setting with different figures.
Impressionist and Modern Paintings and Sculpture—Part II, Watercolours and Drawings—Part II. Sotheby's, London. March 29, 1973, p. 127, under no. 202, calls it "Général et Aide de camp–Route de la Salice, Antibes"; publishes a pen and ink study for this painting.
Philippe Guilloux. Meissonier: Trois siècles d'histoire. Paris, 1980, ill. p. 40 (detail).
Maureen C. O'Brien in Maureen C. O'Brien. In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, N.Y., 1986, pp. 24, 32, 34, 46 n. 15, pp. 96, 166–67, fig. 14, colorpl. XXI, remarks that although the selection committee for the 1883 exhibition chose this picture because they sought "paintings that were modern in technique and intimate in scale and intent," they denied it a place of honor and installed it in a corridor under the staircase at the National Academy.
Ronald G. Pisano in Maureen C. O'Brien. In Support of Liberty: European Paintings at the 1883 Pedestal Fund Art Loan Exhibition. Exh. cat., Parrish Art Museum. Southampton, N.Y., 1986, p. 69.
Constance Cain Hungerford inErnest Meissonier: Rétrospective. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. Lyons, 1993, p. 198, fig. 7.
Dominique Brachlianoff inErnest Meissonier: Rétrospective. Exh. cat., Musée des Beaux-Arts, Lyons. Lyons, 1993, p. 150, under no. 74, calls it "Le Général et son aide de camp. Route de la Salice"; remarks that it depicts almost exactly the same site and composition as "Antibes. La promenade à cheval" (1868; Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
Katharine Baetjer. European Paintings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art by Artists Born Before 1865: A Summary Catalogue. New York, 1995, p. 420, ill.
Constance Cain Hungerford. Ernest Meissonier: Master in His Genre. Cambridge, 1999, p. 163, notes that this picture was purchased by Francis Petit in October 1869 for Fr 15,000.
19th Century European Art. Sotheby's, New York. October 29, 2002, p. 16, under no. 10, mentions it as one version of Meissonier's Antibes landscapes from 1868–69, including "Self-Portrait along the Route de la Salice, Antibes".
Leanne M. Zalewski. The New York Market for French Art in the Gilded Age, 1867–1893. New York, 2023, pp. 95, 119–20.
Meissonier painted several similar compositions of figures along the Salice Road, near the sea at Antibes, including Antibes. La promenade à cheval (1868; Musée d'Orsay, Paris).
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.