ABSTRACT
Shortly after his wife’s break-down, Thackeray was constantly in Paris, where his children were staying with his grandmother; and it was during a visit there, in the autumn of 1840, that, from a room opening upon a garden in the Champs Elysees, he witnessed the Second Funeral of Napoleon—that is, the ceremony of conveying the remains of the great warrior to their last resting-place at the Hotel des Invalides. From Kenny Meadows, who at this time was publishing a series of Heads of the People—Douglas Jerrold and Marryat were among the contributors—Thackeray accepted a commission to write three sketches: Captain Rook and Mr. Pigeon, and The Fashionable Authoress (by William Thackeray), and The Artist (by Michael Angelo Titmarsh). Thackeray’s interview with Vizetelly led to the Letters on The Fine Arts, which appeared in the Pictorial Times during March and April. They were six in number, and included a letter on Art Unions, notices of the Academy and Water Colour Exhibitions.
