The collecting practices of Martinique-born Marie-Josèphe-Rose de Tascher de Pagerie might have held little art-historical significance were it not for her second marriage, in 1796 at the age of thirty three, to General Napoléon Bonaparte. Instead it might be argued, as Eleanor DeLorme has in Joséphine and the Arts of the Empire, that Joséphine’s collecting practices, or more specifically her personal taste, shaped what has come to be known as Empire style. DeLorme is certainly no stranger to her subject, having published, among other things, the biography Joséphine: Napoléon’s Incomparable Empress (New York: Harry N. Abrams) in 2002. In this edited volume she gathers together the work of various scholars in an effort to reflect on Joséphine’s role and influence in the wide-ranging (from painting to porcelain, from fashion to furniture) arts of the Empire. The book is noteworthy for its broad scope. DeLorme’s own contributions in the four chapters she authored are diverse. In the first of these, she focuses on painting and patronage that can be ascribed to Joséphine rather than Napoléon Bonaparte, while also discussing Joséphine’s role in more explicitly imperial commissions, such as those by Jacques-Louis David, in which she appears. In the following chapter, DeLorme...