Second Empire style
The architectural style was closely connected with Haussmann's renovation of Paris carried out during the Second Empire; the new buildings, such as the Opéra, were intended as the focal points of the new boulevards.
Another example was the Mairie, or city hall, of the 1st arrondissement of Paris, built in 1855–1861 in a neo-Gothic style by the architect Jacques Ignace Hittorff (1792–1867).
The new age of railways and the enormous increase in travel that it caused required new train stations, large hotels, exposition halls and department stores in Paris.
Jacques Ignace Hittorff also made extensive use of iron and glass in the interior of the new Gare du Nord train station (1842–1865), although the façade was perfectly neoclassical, decorated with classical statues representing the cities served by the railway.
Henri Labrouste (1801–1875) also used iron and glass to create a dramatic cathedral-like reading room for the National Library, Richelieu site (1854–1875).
Lefuel's grands guichets of the Louvre originally featured an equestrian statue of Napoleon III by Antoine-Louis Barye over the central arch, which was removed during the Third Republic.
The French Renaissance and the Henry II style were popular influences on chests and cabinets, buffets and credences, which were massive and built like small cathedrals, decorated with columns, frontons, cartouches, mascarons, and carved angels and chimeras.
The major buildings, including the Opera House and the Church of Saint Augustine, were designed to be the focal points of the new avenues, and to be visible at a great distance.
The expansion of the city limits by Napoleon III and Haussmann's new boulevards called for the construction of a variety of new public buildings, including the new tribunal de commerce (1861–67), influenced by the French Renaissance style, by Théodore Ballu; and the new city hall of the 1st arrondissement, by Jacques Ignace Hittorff (1855–60), in a combination of Renaissance and Gothic styles.
[15] New types of architecture connected with the economic expansion: railroad stations, hotels, office buildings, department stores, and exposition halls, occupied the center of Paris, which previously had been largely residential.
[16] Another aspect of the Napoleon III style was the restoration of historical monuments which had been badly damaged during the French Revolution, or were threatened with destruction by the growth of cities.
Viollet-le Duc restored the flèche, or spirelet, of the cathedral, which had been partially destroyed and desecrated during the French Revolution, in a slightly different style, and added gargoyles which had not originally been present to the façade.
Viollet-le-Duc's restoration was criticized in the late 20th century for sometimes pursuing the spirit of the original work, rather than strict accuracy (for example, by using a type of Gothic tower cap from northern France for the walls of the Cité de Carcassonne, rather than a tower design from that region), but in Carcassonne and other cases the works would have been destroyed entirely without the intervention of Napoleon III and Viollet-le-Duc.
[17] Over the course of seventeen years, Napoleon III, Haussmann and Alphand created 1,835 hectares of new parks and gardens, and planted more than six hundred thousand trees, the greatest expansion of Paris green space before or since.
His favorite artists included Alexandre Cabanel, Ernest Meissonier, Jean-Léon Gérôme, and William-Adolphe Bouguereau who received important commissions.
Painters devoted great effort and intrigue to win approval from the jury to present their paintings at the Salon and arrange for good placement in the exhibit halls.
In 1863, the jury of the Paris Salon refused all submissions by avant-garde artists, including those by Édouard Manet, Camille Pissarro, and Johan Jongkind.
His Majesty, wishing to let the public judge the legitimacy of these complaints, has decided that the works of art which were refused should be displayed in another part of the Palace of Industry.
More than a thousand visitors a day came to see now-famous paintings as Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe and James McNeill Whistler's Symphony in White, No.
[20] The journalist Émile Zola reported that visitors pushed to get into the crowded galleries where the refused paintings were hung, and the rooms were full of the laughter and mocking comments of many of the spectators.
Ingres was commissioned to paint the ceiling of the main salon of the Hôtel de Ville, Paris with the Apotheosis of Napoleon, the Emperor's uncle.
Gustave Courbet (1819–1872) was the leader of the school of realist painters during the Second Empire who depicted the lives of ordinary people and rural life, as well as landscapes.
His sculpture La Danse for the façade of the Paris Opera (1869) caused a scandal when it was installed, because of the flamboyant pose of the nude figures.
[28] The works of Hervé included Latrouillatt and Truffaldini, or the inconveniences of a vendetta infinitely prolonged too long and Agamemnon, or the Camel with Two Humps.
In 1855, taking advantage of the first Paris Universal Exposition, which brought enormous crowds to the city, he rented a theater on the Champs-Élysées and put on his musicals to full houses.
The construction of the railroad stations in Paris brought thousands of tourists from around France and Europe to the city, and increased the demand for music and entertainment.
Verdi complained that the Paris orchestra and chorus were unruly and undisciplined, and rehearsed them an unheard-of one hundred and sixty-one times before he felt they were ready.
The major French composers of the period included Charles Gounod, Hector Berlioz, Félicien David, and Gabriel Fauré.
This remains the composition for which he is best known; and although it took a while to achieve popularity, it became one of the most frequently staged operas of all time, with no fewer than 2,000 performances of the work having occurred by 1975 at the Paris Opéra alone.
A city ordinance, designed to protect the traditional musical theaters, forbid the performers in cafés from wearing costumes, dancing, or pantomime, or the use of sets or scenery; they were also forbidden to sing more than forty songs in an evening, and had to present the program in advance each day.
