'What's happening right now in Paris?' This must have been the question that preoccupied many a 19th-century art dealer and artist. For the modern artist who wanted to make it in that period, Paris was no doubt the place to be. And it's from here that considerable amounts of French art managed to find its way, via art dealers and other means, into the private homes of Dutch collectors. Some of them assembled renowned collections. And, eventually, a part of these art treasures ended up in national museums, by gift or bequest. The museums, for their part, supplemented these collections with their own acquisitions. Now for the first time, the total sum of 19th-century French paintings held in Dutch public collections is brought into coherent focus. The French Collection opens with an essay which vividly sketches the art world in Holland during this period. In the catalogue section of The French Collection we find all of the over 1000 paintings listed alphabetically by the artist's name. Clear and comprehensive entries of every work include the technical data, the provenance of the work, the literature and the exhibitions. Furthermore, each painting is represented with a black and white photo. This reference book will certainly help open up the Dutch collections nationwide and worldwide; therefore it earns a permanent place in the libraries of art institutions, museum, art historians, collectors and art lovers.