Contents

• Chez Meissonier
• Modern life
• The lure of perfection - - Mademoiselle V.
• Dreams of genius
• Youthful daring - - A baffling maze of canvas
• The Salon of Venus
• The tempest of fools
• Famous victories
• Young France
• Deliberations
• Room M
• Plein air
• A beastly slop
• The apostle of ugliness
• Maître Velázquez
• The jury of assassins
• Monet or Manet?
• A flash of swords
• Marvels, wonders and miracles
• Funeral for a friend
• Maneuvers
• A salon of newcomers
• Au bord de la mer
• Mademoiselle Berthe
• Flying gallops
• The wild boar of the Batignolles
• Vaulting ambitions
• The Prussian terror
• The last days of Paris
• A carnival of blood
• Days of hardship
• The apples of discord
• A ring of gold
• Pure Haarlem beer
• Beyond perfection
• The liberation of Paris
• Epilogue: finishing touches
• Political timeline