In 1923, the industrialist Samuel Courtauld gave [actual symbol not reproducible]50,000 to the British government to encourage the purchase of a collection of French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings. At the same time, he continued to build up his own fine collection of French late nineteenth-century paintings, most of which he later gave to the Courtauld Institute of Art.

John House writes on the position of the collection within Impressionism and examines the gradual acceptance of modern French art in England's national museums; Andrew Stephenson places Courtauld's collecting in the context of the cultural politics of England in the period; and John Murdoch discusses his activities in relation to the history of the Courtauld family.

The remainder of the book presents detailed catalogue entries that discuss all the French pictures in Courtauld's private collection; a complete, annotated checklist of his purchases draws on recently rediscovered original receipts, and an anthology of original texts illuminates the debates about the acceptance of modern French art in London's museums.