Salon of 1864

The Salon of 1864 was an art exhibition held at the Palace of Industry in Paris. Organised by the Académie des Beaux-Arts, it opened on 1 May 1864. It featured submissions from leading artists, sculptors and architects of the Second Empire period.

Ernest Meissonier's French Campaign, 1814 features a scene from the Napoleonic Wars.^[1] He also submitted Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino, depicting the French Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Solferino during the Second Italian War of Independence.^[2] The emperor purchased Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 's Souvenir de Mortefontaine for 3,000 Francs.^[3] James Tissot displayed two works Portrait of Mademoiselle L.L. and The Two Sisters, both featuring the same model. The latter drew attention as it was painted En plein air.^[4]

Pierre-Auguste Renoir made his Salon debut with Esmeralda, a painting based on Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, which he subsequently destroyed.^[5] Henri Fantin-Latour's Homage to Delacroix paid tribute to the late artist Eugène Delacroix, one of the major figures of the Romantic movement.^[6] Amongst other works on display were Oedipus and the Sphinx by Gustave Moreau and the history painting The Oath of Henri de Guise by Pierre-Charles Comte.