Free The Judgment of Paris by Ross King Page A

The author does not neglect the military history of the period, [but he] illustrates that the clash of ideas is even more exciting than the clang of swords."
    — Kirkus Reviews, starred review
"Best-selling author King {Brunelleschi's Dome) does not disappoint with this fast-paced romp through the Parisian art scene between 1863 (the first Salon des Refusés exhibition) and 1874 (the first Impressionist exhibition). King diligently assembles a swath of anecdotes and evidence, coaxing lively color and fascinating detail from even the most stolid of historical facts and documents. The book serves as an entertaining if broad account of a revolutionary transformation in vision—not least of all through art. Recommended."
    —Prudence Peiffer, Library Journal
    "King is a master at linking pivotal moments in art history to epic rivalries. In his third supremely engaging and illuminating inquiry, King summons forth mid-nineteenth-century Paris and vividly portrays two diametrically opposed artists . . . Writing with zest and a remarkable command of diverse and fascinating facts, and offering keen insights into the matrix of art, politics, social mores, and technology, King charts the coalescence of a movement that not only changed painting for all time but also our way of seeing the world. And perhaps most laudably, he resurrects a discredited and forgotten figure, the marvelous monomaniac [Ernest] Meissonier, a man King has bemused affection and respect for, and an artist readers will be delighted to learn about."
    —Donna Seaman, Booklist

For my three sisters
    Karen, Maureen, and Wendy

In this bitch of a life, one can never be too well armed.
    —Édouard Manet

POLITICAL TIMELINE
1804 (December) Napoléon Bonaparte is crowned Emperor of the French, assuming the dynastic title Napoléon I.
1805 (October) Napoléon is defeated by Britain's Royal Navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.
1806 (October) Napoléon's Grande Armée defeats the Prussians at the Battle of Jena.
1807 (June) The French defeat the Russians at the Battle of Friedland in East Prussia.
1808 (December) Napoléon invades Spain.
1809 (July) Napoléon defeats the Austrians at the Battle of Wagram, near Vienna.
1812 (June) Napoléon begins his invasion of Russia. (September) Napoléon enters Moscow after defeating the Russians at the Battle of Borodino; soon afterward the Grande Armée begins its long retreat.
1813 (October) The French are defeated by Coalition forces at the Battle of Nations near Leipzig.
1814 (April) Napoléon abdicates following the invasion of France by Coalition forces that now consist of the British, the Russians, the Spanish, the Portuguese and the Prussians. He is exiled to Elba and the Bourbon monarchy is restored under Louis XVIII, the younger brother of the guillotined Louis XVI.
1815 (March) Beginning of the Hundred Days as Napoléon, escaping from Elba, returns to France. Louis XVI11 flees to Ghent.
(June) Defeat of Napoléon at Waterloo.
(October) Napoléon exiled to Saint-Helena.
1821 (May) Death of Napoléon on Saint-Helena.
1824 (September) Death of King Louis XVIII. He is succeeded by his brother the Comte d'Artois, who reigns as King Charles X.
1830 (July) The "July Monarchy" is born as Charles X is deposed when artisans and workers take to the barricades in Paris. The Due d'Orleans (descended from a younger brother of Louis XVI) is invited to take the throne as King Louis-Philippe.
1834 (April) Massacre in the Rue Transnonain in Paris as government forces ruthlessly suppress working-class insurrection.
1836 (October) Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, nephew of Napoléon, makes an unsuccessful coup attempt against King Louis-Philippe.
1840 (August) Louis-Napoléon stages a second unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Louis-Philippe. Captured at Boulogne-sur-Mer and sentenced to life in prison, he will escape to England in 1846.
1848 (February) Riots and revolution in Paris (partly due to bad harvests) are followed by the abdication of King