# A Painter

- By: Ernest Meissonier (French, 1815–1891)
- Date: 1855
- Medium: oil on mahogany
- Classification: Painting
- Dimensions: Framed: 39 x 33.5 x 6.5 cm (15 3/8 x 13 3/16 x 2 9/16 in.); Unframed: 27 x 21.1 cm (10 5/8 x 8 5/16 in.)
- Culture: France, 19th century
- Credit line: Gift of Mrs. Noah L. Butkin
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1982.247)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://invisiblenetwork.ai/thumbs/cma/1982.247/1982.247_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Meissonier often depicted artists and musicians of the 1600s and 1700s engaged in their work. This artist is busy painting a small canvas depicting a nymph and satyr. The artist’s 18th-century costume—nearly 100 years out of date at the time of the painting’s creation—transforms the scene into a charming historical fiction. Meissonier exhibited the painting at the Paris Salon of 1857.