The Ministry of the Maison de l’Empereur (2 December 1852-17 July 1869), later the Ministry of the Maison de l’Empereur and the Beaux-Arts, was responsible for presenting budgets, managing the Crown’s income, appointing ministerial staff (excluding those high offices appointed by the emperor), managing expenses, revising and approving agreements, managing the Crown’s personal allowance and the emperor and empress’s private estate, promoting the arts and making proposals to the emperor for pensions to be covered by the Civil List. The Ministry of the Maison de l’Empereur was based in the Louvre, close to the emperor.