Man Smoking

Man Smoking demonstrates Meissonier's mastery of drawing as an independent art form, not merely a preparatory step for painting. The combination of black chalk and graphite, with stumping (blending with a rolled paper tool) for tonal gradations and white gouache for highlights, produces a drawing that has the pictorial completeness of a painting but the directness and intimacy of a work on paper. The subject — a solitary man smoking — is characteristic of Meissonier's preference for single-figure genre subjects that allow him to concentrate his attention on the rendering of textures, the modeling of form, and the expression of quiet contemplation.

Meissonier's drawings are less well known than his paintings, but they demonstrate that his meticulous technique was not dependent on the smooth panel surfaces and fine brushes of his oil paintings. The same precision of observation and handling that distinguishes his painted works is present in his drawings, where the challenge of achieving tonal range with limited media makes the technical achievement even more impressive.

Man Smoking is Meissonier's drawing virtuosity in a single figure: black chalk, graphite, stumping, and white gouache combined to produce an image with the completeness of a painting and the intimacy of a drawing. The smoking man is a subject that rewards the viewer's sustained attention — exactly the kind of attention that Meissonier's technique demands.