This study examines self-fashioning and the practice of collecting in Second Empire Paris as manifest in James Tissot's Jeunes femmes regardant des objets japonais (1869, Cincinnati Museum of Art). The painting, exhibited in the Salon of 1869, conspicuously portrays Tissot's own collection of exotic Asian collectibles and the artist's private luxe interior. When scholars investigate and interpret Jeunes femmes, it is regularly defined within the prescriptive realm of Tissot's later London paintings, or of his well known series, La Femme à Paris. I argue for a less circumspect engagement with the painting, by focusing on the portrayal of the collectible objects and the decadent interior as evidence of bourgeois self-fashioning and the decorous display and consumption concomitant with Second Empire Paris. This thesis considers the history of collecting in Second Empire Paris; in particular, the early impact of japonisme on Tissot's artwork. Recent scholarship largely regards Tissor's initial engagement with japonisme, as demonstrated by Japonaise au bain (1864, Muse des Beaux-Arts, Dijon) and Jeune femme tenant des objets japonais (1865, Private Collection), as trite. I argue that such categorizing biased sound consideration of Jeunes femmes. I investigate Tissot's interaction with Japanese aristocracy and contend that his appointment as drawing instructor to Prince Akitake marked a turning point in his artistic career and in his reputation as a collector. This thesis also explores the role of fetish as an operative analytical tool. By employing the theories of Freudian and Marxist fetish, I am able to scrutinize the collectible objects' inclusion and meticulous representation, account for the obsessive nature of the collector and investigate specific strategies of posturing and self-promotion. Moreover, I can discuss the painting, and the collection it portrays, as a producing agent for Tissot's own artistic and social legacy. Ultimately, I conclude that Jeunes femmes, a richly detailed painting of Tissot's collectibles and interior space, is implicitly concerned with bourgeois self-fashioning and Tissot's own need for financial and social legitimization.

This paper analyzes the political dimensions surrounding visual and literary allusions to soap bubbles. Traditionally, iconographic studies consider soap bubbles within the history of northern Baroque vanitas, attaching to bubbles notions of ephemerality and transience. Building on these interpretations, eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French artists and writers created a complex metaphor for soap bubbles that relied on their impermanence and fragility, as well as their illusory nature. By coupling the earliest conceptual meanings of soap bubbles with their almost imperceptible formal properties, the bubble blower came to symbolize deceivers, or figures creating illusions or delusions. Eventually, this transformed vanitas symbolism became harnessed to political critiques and representative of chimerical assertions of papal authority, calumny, and false promises of liberal reform. I not only describe the alternative meanings associated with soap bubbles in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century France, but also I situate Edouard Manet's Les Bulles de savon (1867) within this trajectory. While most scholars interpret Manet's painting and accompanying prints as a continuation of, and legacy to, the Dutch vanitas tradition, I illustrate how the artistic and political milieu in which Manet worked mirrored earlier criticisms employing allusions to bubbles. / Art History

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L’Empire ottoman, au XIXe siècle, s’affaiblit sans cesse et paraît destiné à s'effondrer. Il est l’objet de convoitises et de rivalités entre les puissances européennes. Sous sa suzeraineté, la Syrie et, avec elle, la région du Mont-Liban, est une zone clé sur le plan stratégique puisqu'elle domine l’accès aux voies menant à l’Inde et à l’Asie méridionale et orientale. La France et l'Angleterre tentent toutes deux de s'y imposer par communautés locales interposées : la première à travers les Maronites, la seconde à l'aide des Druzes. Au printemps 1860, des troubles éclatent entre les deux communautés, entraînant le massacre de milliers de chrétiens. Les puissances européennes, poussées par le gouvernement de Napoléon III, s'entendent pour intervenir au moyen d'une commission d'enquête et l'envoi de troupes. Cette expédition a pour mission officielle d’aider l’Empire ottoman à rétablir l’ordre et à protéger les chrétiens. Le présent mémoire démontre que la France impériale entretenait des visées politiques et économiques à l'égard de la Syrie et du Liban. L'historiographie n'avait jusqu'à présent pas analysé en profondeur les véritables mobiles français dans cette expédition. Les ambitions politiques et économiques ont été beaucoup plus déterminantes dans la décision française de mettre en branle l'expédition que le devoir « humanitaire » de protection des chrétiens ou la satisfaction de son opinion publique. Loin de se laisser abattre par la catastrophe que représentent les massacres qui menace la survie de sa clientèle et donc de son influence en Syrie, Paris, et particulièrement son ministre des Affaires étrangères E. Thouvenel, a réussi à tourner la situation à son avantage. Se servant habilement du désir d'ingérence des autres puissances et de son rôle de protectrice des chrétiens, la France est parvenue à acculer au pied du mur l'Angleterre, qui s'opposait à l'intervention, et à justifier celle-ci sur des principes éloignés de ses objectifs réels. Les troubles ont finalement constitué pour elle une occasion d'augmenter l'autonomie de la Montagne par rapport au pouvoir central et la puissance économique et politique de sa clientèle à travers la révision du statut administratif de la région. Ce faisant, elle a renforcé son influence dans l'Est méditerranéen et fait un pas de plus vers une domination française en Syrie. / Throughout the nineteenth century, the Ottoman Empire grew weaker and seemed headed for collapse. It became the object of the ambitions and rivalries of the European powers. Under its suzerainty, Syria, including the Mount Lebanon region, was a key area strategically since it dominated the access routes to India and southern and eastern Asia. France and England both tried to impose their influence by way of local communities. France acted through the Christian Maronites, while Britain used the Druzes. In the spring of 1860, trouble broke out between the two communities, resulting in the massacre of thousands of Christians. The European powers, at the behest of the government of Napoleon III, agreed to intervene by sending a commission of inquiry and troops. The expedition’s official mission was to help the Ottoman Empire to restore order and to protect Christians. This thesis shows that imperial France pursued political and economic goals with regard to Syria and Lebanon. The historiography had not previously analyzed in depth the real French mobile in this expedition. The political and economic ambitions were far more important in its decision to set in motion an expedition than the "humanitarian" Christian duty of providing protection or the satisfaction of the public opinion. Far from being deterred by the catastrophe of the massacre that threatened the survival of its protégés and therefore its influence in Syria, Paris, and especially its foreign minister E. Thouvenel, managed to turn the situation to his advantage. Skilfully using the desire of interference of other powers and its role as protector of Christians, France managed to corner England, which opposed the intervention, and justify it on principles far removed from its real objectives. The troubles finally represented for her an opportunity to widen the autonomy of the Mountain vis-à-vis the central authority of the Ottoman Empire and to increase the economic and political power of its clients through the revision of the administrative status of the region. In so doing, it has strengthened its influence in the eastern Mediterranean and moved a step closer to dominating Syria.

La perception du Second Empire français a longtemps été sujette à controverse dans l’historiographie française. Alors que le régime a été synonyme de honte nationale pendant plusieurs décennies, l’historiographie en a tracé un portrait peu flatteur qui a tardé à évoluer. Cette interprétation négative dure jusqu’aux années 1930-1940, à partir desquelles les historiens remettent en question les idées reçues sur le régime et le perçoivent positivement. En effectuant une critique externe et interne d’ouvrages publiés par des auteurs français sur le Second Empire depuis 1870, le présent mémoire vise à identifier les facteurs qui expliquent la lente transformation de la perception du régime et de l’Empereur. La critique externe démontre que les auteurs, le contexte historique et la discipline historique ont joué un rôle dans cette perception. L’analyse interne de la politique socio-économique, intérieure et extérieure du régime, ainsi que de la personnalité de l’Empereur, démontre que d’autres facteurs, comme l’utilisation de sources et la façon d’aborder le sujet, ont eu un impact sur l’évaluation de Napoléon III et du Second Empire. / The perception of the Second French Empire has long been a subject of controversy in French historiography. For a long time, the regime was synonymous with national shame, and historians presented Napoleon III in an unfavourable manner that persisted for decades. Negative interpretations prevailed until the 1930s and the 1940s, after which a number of historians challenged preconceptions about the regime and began to portray it positively. By performing external and internal analyses of books on the Second Empire written by French authors since 1870, this thesis identifies factors that explain the slow transformation of the understanding of the regime and the Emperor by historians. External analysis will demonstrate that authors, historical context and changing norms in the historical profession play important roles in the writing of French history. Internal analysis consists of examination of the regime’s socio-economic, domestic, foreign policies, and of the Emperor’s personality. It will show that other factors, such as sources used and angles from which a subject is studied, had an impact on the way authors construed the Second Empire and Napoleon III.

Mémoire de maîtrise utilisant les archives trouvées aux Archives Nationales de France ( AN section Paris), aux archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères de France (AMAE) et celles du fond d'archives Colonna Walewski (ACW). / Le Second Empire français est une période de grands changements sur la scène internationale. Profitant des diverses crises politiques de nature nationale secouant l’Europe et l’Amérique, Napoléon III entend profiter de ces dernières pour favoriser l’expansion de l’influence française dans des régions appelées à devenir névralgiques pour les intérêts impériaux. Érigée en moyen de puissance, la politique des nationalités est un discours politique flou, théorique et adapté aux besoins du moment par le régime du Prince-Président. Son principal objectif vise l’installation de régimes césaro-démocratiques alliés à la France. Ces derniers peuvent être implantés par divers moyens : la guerre, par des échanges de territoires entre souverains ou par une méthode politique novatrice, l’appel au peuple comme source de légitimité. Ce qui est inusité avec la politique des nationalités, c’est le recours systématique à une «volonté» populaire. Quelle se manifeste par des élections contrôlées ou par une assemblée de notables bien sélectionnés, il y a ce souci d’apparaître légitime auprès des différentes populations. En utilisant des sources primaires et de nombreuses recherches historiques et politiques, le présent mémoire étudie les divers mécanismes qui régissent la politique des nationalités de Napoléon III. Il sera question d’analyser la dynamique de la politique des nationalités et de la façon dont cette dernière permet l’accroissement de l’influence française en Italie, en Allemagne, au Mexique et finalement dans la Syrie ottomane. / The Second French Empire was a period of great change on the international scene in Europe and America. Using the diverse national crises that were shaking the European and American balance of power, Napoleon III intended to use these crises in order to favour French influence in regions where her interests were starting to become vital for worldwide supremacy. Put forward as a means of power, the policy of nationalities is an abstract political idea that creates a political discourse which favors imperial projects around the world. The objective of the policy of nationalities aims at the installation of monarchies allied to France which can be installed in various ways, through war, territorial exchanges or by a new method, popular referenda. However, all of these regimes were installed in the name of nationality. Yet what is innovative in the policy of nationalities, is the systematic recourse to the will of the people as a means to legitimize France’s territorial expansion. This manifested itself in a controlled election or by an assembly of well chosen notables. There was always a need to appear lawful in the eyes of the foreign populations. Using primary sources and a variety of historical studies, this research’s aim is to analyze the methods used by Napoleon III to promote France’s policy of nationalities. We will study the dynamic of this policy and the way the national argument was used during political crises in Italy, Germany, Mexico and the ottoman province of Syria.

Le Second Empire français est une période de grands changements sur la scène internationale. Profitant des diverses crises politiques de nature nationale secouant l’Europe et l’Amérique, Napoléon III entend profiter de ces dernières pour favoriser l’expansion de l’influence française dans des régions appelées à devenir névralgiques pour les intérêts impériaux. Érigée en moyen de puissance, la politique des nationalités est un discours politique flou, théorique et adapté aux besoins du moment par le régime du Prince-Président. Son principal objectif vise l’installation de régimes césaro-démocratiques alliés à la France. Ces derniers peuvent être implantés par divers moyens : la guerre, par des échanges de territoires entre souverains ou par une méthode politique novatrice, l’appel au peuple comme source de légitimité. Ce qui est inusité avec la politique des nationalités, c’est le recours systématique à une «volonté» populaire. Quelle se manifeste par des élections contrôlées ou par une assemblée de notables bien sélectionnés, il y a ce souci d’apparaître légitime auprès des différentes populations. En utilisant des sources primaires et de nombreuses recherches historiques et politiques, le présent mémoire étudie les divers mécanismes qui régissent la politique des nationalités de Napoléon III. Il sera question d’analyser la dynamique de la politique des nationalités et de la façon dont cette dernière permet l’accroissement de l’influence française en Italie, en Allemagne, au Mexique et finalement dans la Syrie ottomane. / The Second French Empire was a period of great change on the international scene in Europe and America. Using the diverse national crises that were shaking the European and American balance of power, Napoleon III intended to use these crises in order to favour French influence in regions where her interests were starting to become vital for worldwide supremacy. Put forward as a means of power, the policy of nationalities is an abstract political idea that creates a political discourse which favors imperial projects around the world. The objective of the policy of nationalities aims at the installation of monarchies allied to France which can be installed in various ways, through war, territorial exchanges or by a new method, popular referenda. However, all of these regimes were installed in the name of nationality. Yet what is innovative in the policy of nationalities, is the systematic recourse to the will of the people as a means to legitimize France’s territorial expansion. This manifested itself in a controlled election or by an assembly of well chosen notables. There was always a need to appear lawful in the eyes of the foreign populations. Using primary sources and a variety of historical studies, this research’s aim is to analyze the methods used by Napoleon III to promote France’s policy of nationalities. We will study the dynamic of this policy and the way the national argument was used during political crises in Italy, Germany, Mexico and the ottoman province of Syria. / Mémoire de maîtrise utilisant les archives trouvées aux Archives Nationales de France ( AN section Paris), aux archives du Ministère des Affaires étrangères de France (AMAE) et celles du fond d'archives Colonna Walewski (ACW).

This paper, on the identities shown in one of the cameos in Empress Josephine’s pearl and cameo diadem, has first of all focused on the mythological characters, and thereafter raised the question if these are to be seen as an allegory for people from the time. The process of identi-fication has followed the three levels in Panofsky’s method for analysing art, where the first and second levels consist of already known material from the Bernadotte Library, Royal Palace in Stockholm and the jeweller house of Chaumet (former Nitot et Fils) in Paris.                      To decipher both the mythological individuals and the possible allegories, that is the third level, the iconology itself, the thoughts and methods of  Göran Hermerén on the rise and fall of allegories along with Leora Auslander’s solutions using visuals comparisons, when no written material is available, have provided the academic framework for the study.                                When comparing the cameo with pieces of art from the time, the subject fits the description of the Roman mythology’s love goddess Venus and her son Cupid, the lovechild fathered by Mars. Moving on to allegories, well-known material shows that Emperor Napoleon was keen to be portrayed as the god of war Mars and Empress Josephine as Venus.  A portrait of special interest to the study, a rather private painting by Parent from 1807, which is probably still unknown to most people, shows how Josephine is depicted with a recently deceased grandchild, a young boy how was also the nephew of Napoleon’s, a close relative to them both, and in the line of  succession to the throne, while Napoleon still was Emperor. This picture has an expression which is close to the one of Venus and Cupid, and it is also made to look like a cameo. These portraits were known at the time when Napoleon gave the diadem to Josephine in 1809.                                                       Among portraits from the Napoleonic era, there has earlier only been one known painting, even if in two examples, where the diadem is shown. It is a miniature of Empress Josephine, a work from her final period at Malmaison, 1814. However, another miniature picturing the daughter Hortense in the very same piece of jewellery, from 1812, has now become known. In both these examples, the depicted cameo has a hight measuring only millimetres, why a discussion on the execution and the rendering has to be done with restraint. But in the daughter´s portrait there is a certain attempt to show the outlines of the central cameo that differs from the later painting of the Empress. This may be an indication of how much more important it was for the daughter to relay the picture of her mother and the memory of her son, in 1812, than it was for Josephine in 1814, after the divorce, probably after the fall of Napoleon too, when she was no longer his Venus, and there was no longer a throne for any of her grandsons to inherit.         Therefore, in short, the chosen methods give the answer that the mythology depicted is a scene of Venus and her son Cupid, and the allegorical interpretation of Venus is the Empress herself. The child in shape of Cupid here, may well be read as one of her daughter’s sons, at the time a much longed-for heir to the throne of Napoleon I.