The ostentation of the “fête impériale” and France’s humiliating defeat in 1870 by Prussia have long tarnished the reputation of the Second Empire, suspected of having been a time purely of amusements, scandals and vices. It was, however, a period of unrivalled prosperity in the 19th century and one of unprecedented social upheavals. A time of abundance, euphoria and numerous celebrations, political, economic, religious and artistic, today we see the 1850s as the pivotal moment in the birth of “modern France” (Gambetta). To celebrate its 30th anniversary in autumn 2016, the musée d’Orsay is, for the first time, looking at this first society of spectacle and consumerism. The exhibition brings together paintings, sculptures, photography, architectural drawings, objets d’art and jewellery in a lavish thematic exhibition based around the great aesthetic…