Paintings

Sarah Bernhardt is undoubtedly the most celebrated and even adored actress of the Belle Époque in France. In addition to her unanimously celebrated talent, she left another legacy: that of having brought to life the main character in Edmond Rostand’s play of the same name,…

During the summer of 1856, photographer Gustave Le Gray (1820-1884) made several portraits of the Empress Eugenie at the Palace of Saint-Cloud; she had given birth to the Prince Imperial a few months earlier (on 16 March). The idea behind the photos was to assist fellow artist Thomas Couture (1815-1879) in his composition of a […]

This oil on canvas portrait of Prince Eugène de Beauharnais, Viceroy of Italy was executed in 1810 by Andrea Appiani (1754-1817), the so-called “Painter of Graces” and also First Painter for the King of Italy, Napoleon I. Appiani painted many portraits and palace frescoes for the family of the Emperor and King, many of which, alas, disappeared […]

This portrait of Jean Lannes (1769-1809), today held at the Musée de l’Armée in Paris, was painted in 1834 by Julie-Louise Volpelière. It was commissioned from the painter for the future Musée d’Histoire de France de Versailles, a project of King Louis-Philippe’s. In this work, Volpelière was in fact copying a portrait made by Baron […]

This portrait, attributed to Jacques Nicolas Paillot de Montabert and which remained in Raza Roustam’s possession until his death, was probably commissioned by Roustam himself at the time of his marriage. The painting then went to his son-in-law, who left it to Pierre-Albert Beaufeu, the executor of his will. Beaufeu gave it to the Musée de […]

It was the job of photographer Léon Crémière (1831-1913) to photograph the members of the “Maison de l’Empereur” [the Emperor’s Household], and the shot here is his magnificent portrait (1861) of Émilien de Nieuwerkerke, an essential figure in the artistic life of the Second Empire, who at the time had been intendant des Beaux-Arts since […]

Franco-Japanese relations After being closed to European power for several centuries, Japan in the 1850s faced extreme pressure  to open her ports to foreign shipping. A first treaty  with the US in March/May 1854 (Convention of Kanagawa) was followed swiftly by treaties with European powers, namely Britain (the Anglo-Japanese Friendship Treaty of October 1854), Russia […]

This portrait of the Countess of Castiglione has become emblematic of the history of photographic art and more specifically of self-portraiture. The personality of its subject, “la Castiglione”, has contributed to its fascination, which has not diminished over the years, continuing to inspire a multitude of questions and hypotheses as to the reasons for the […]

This portrait of Jerome Bonaparte (1784-1860), Napoleon’s younger brother, depicts a scene from his early adult life (from 1800 to 1806) spent in the French navy. It was painted by the prolific Flemish portraitist François-Joseph Kinson (1771–1839) (or Kinsoen with the original Flemish spelling) who would later be chosen as Jerome’s official painter when the latter […]

A portrait, a reflection of the soul When Hippolyte Flandrin painted this portrait in 1860, Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul Bonaparte (9 September 1822 – 17 March 1891), better known as Jerome-Napoleon, was 40 years old. Reality is not embellished. The painter has put the subject in a minimalist setting against a plain, dark background. Jerome-Napoleon, […]