Meissonier, Jean Louis Ernest, French painter, born at Lyons; began as a book illustrator of “Paul and Virginia” amongst other works, practising the while and perfecting his art as a figure painter, in which he achieved signal success, from his “Chess-player” series to his designs for the decoration of the Pantheon, “The Apotheosis of France,” in 1889 (1811‒1891).
Definition taken from The Nuttall Encyclopædia, edited by the Reverend James Wood (1907)
Meissen * Meister, Wilhelm