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.
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. The emperor purchased Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot 's Souvenir de Mortefontaine for 3,000 Francs. 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.
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. Henri Fantin-Latour's Homage to Delacroix paid tribute to the late artist Eugène Delacroix, one of the major figures of the Romantic movement. 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.