French Empress Eugénie: Patron and Collector

Eugénie, a legendary beauty and accomplished sportswoman, fluent in French, Spanish and English, soon silenced her detractors. She became a celebrity influencer and a trendsetting fashionista of her day who strategically deployed her patronage to advance her reputation at home and abroad.   An avid collector, Eugénie conspicuously endorsed new patterns of consumption across the arts, notably in fashion and jewelry design, encouraging unprecedented industrial innovation. She helped launch the careers of the leather craftsman Louis Vuitton (1821-1892), the couturier Frederick Worth (1825-1895), and enhanced the reputation of the portrait painter Frans Xaver Winterhalter (1805-1873.) In consort with the Emperor, Eugénie sponsored balls and masquerades, sumptuous Fêtes Imperiales (Imperial parties) where she displayed glittering Baccarat crystal (chandeliers and glassware), Christofle silver, and Sèvres porcelain thus promoting storied French industries. These prestigious parties helped disseminate French gastronomy and the career of the founder of haute cuisine, chef Auguste Escoffier (1846-1935).    Sa Majesté l'Impératrice rendant visite à Mlle Rosa Bonheur dans son atelier, de Thomery ( Her Majesty the Empress Visiting Miss Rosa Bonheur in Her Workshop in Thomery ), Auguste Victor Deroy (1825-1906) and Lix…