3-003-951 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

M. Fould, the new Finance Minister of France, 1861. Engraving from a photograph by Mayer and Pierson. 'During the Presidency of Louis Napoleon M. Fould was four times Finance Minister...The differences...which arose between M. Fould and the President, and led to his repeated resignations, did not prevent him from being again appointed to office as Finance Minister on the occasion of the coup-d'etat in December, 1851...as Minister of State of the Emperor's Household...he superintended the progress of the Great French Exhibition of 1855, the reorganisation of the Opera, and the completion of the new Louvre, 1853-7)...M. Fould, although in his sixty-second year, does not bear on his countenance the traces of his age. Of an ordinary height, his thin pale features and somewhat sallow complexion bear but a very slight impress of his Hebrew origin: he has the appearance of a preoccupied, studious man, possessing all those exterior qualities of polish and refinement which characterise the French gentleman of high connections and liberal education...if he succeed in finding an issue from the threatening complication brought about by the lavish expenditure of the Imperial Government he will earn a just title to the profound gratitude of his country'. From "Illustrated London News", 1861.