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
The Rothschild family is a wealthy Ashkenazi Jewish noble banking family originally from Frankfurt that rose to prominence with Mayer Amschel Rothschild (1744–1812), a court factor to the German Landgraves of Hesse-Kassel in the Free City of Frankfurt, Holy Roman Empire, who established his banking business in the 1760s. Unlike most previous court factors, Rothschild managed to bequeath his wealth and established an international banking family through his five sons, who established businesses in London, Paris, Frankfurt, Vienna, and Naples. The family was elevated to noble rank in the Holy Roman Empire and the United Kingdom. The family's documented history starts in 16th century Frankfurt; its name is derived from the family house, Rothschild, built by Isaak Elchanan Bacharach in Frankfurt in 1567.
Mayer Amschel Rothschild, founder of the Rothschild banking dynasty.
House of the Rothschild family, Judengasse, Frankfurt
Palace of Baron Albert von Rothschild (photo 1884)
A landmark Rothschild palace in Frankfurt, Germany, Villa Günthersburg (photographed 1855)