Portrait of Eugénie de Montijo, Empress of the French
Artist: Pierre-Désiré Guillemet (French, 1827-1878), After Franz Xaver Winterhalter (German, 1805–1873)
Date: 1857
Medium: Oil on canvas
Collection: Louvre Museum, Paris, France
Eugénie de Montijo
Eugénie de Montijo (1826 – 1920) was Empress of the French from her marriage to Napoleon III on 30 January 1853 until he was overthrown on 4 September 1870. From 28 July to 4 September 1870, she was the de facto head of state of France.
Born to prominent Spanish nobility, Eugénie was educated in France, Spain, and England. As Empress, she used her influence to champion "authoritarian and clerical policies"; her involvement in politics earned her much criticism from contemporaries. Napoléon and Eugénie had one child together, Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial (1856–1879). After the fall of the Empire, the three lived in exile in England; Eugénie outlived both her husband and son and spent the remainder of her life working to commemorate their memories and the memory of the Second French Empire.
