Émile Pereire and his brother Isaac Pereire were major figures in the development of France's finance and infrastructure during the Second French Empire. The Pereire brothers challenged the dominance of the Rothschilds in continental European finance, known at the time as haute finance. Their attempt was temporarily successful, and even though it collapsed in the late 1860s, it contributed to a more developed and vibrant economic landscape. Like the Rothschilds, the Pereires were Jews, but unlike them, they were Sephardi of Portuguese origin.
Isaac and Émile Pereire
Steamer Pereire-Lebreton of the Pereire's Compagnie Générale Transatlantique
Eugène Pereire by artist Charles Louis Gratia, founder of the Banque Transatlantique
Villa Philipson in Pistoia, Italy, built by Edoardo Philipson and Sophie Rodrigues Pereire, parents of Dino Philipson
Achille Marcus Fould was a French financier and politician who was four times minister of finance between 1849 and 1867. A major figure of the Second French Empire, his politics have been described as "conservative by instinct, liberal by reflection."
Achille Fould
Fould (standing right of center, holding a hat) attending the presentation in 1853 of Louis Visconti's plans for completion of the Louvre to Napoleon III and Empress Eugénie, 1865 painting by Ange Tissier
Cartoon of Fould by Honoré Daumier, 1849
Formal portrait of Fould, 1859
