ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My enthusiasm for La Promenade was sparked by John Walsh, then Curator of European Paintings at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, when we were col- leagues in the team preparing the 1985-86 Renoir retrospective exhibition. I did not have the chance to write about La Promenade in that exhibition catalogue, and I am very happy finally to have this opportunity to explore it—and at far greater length—after its acquisition by the museum of which he is now director. Much of the initial research that underpins this book was under- taken while I held a British Academy Research Readership in 1988-90; I take this opportunity to acknowledge my gratitude to the British Academy for this period of leave, during which I was able to broaden and deepen my understand- ing of the Paris art world in the Second Empire. Sabbatical leave at the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, enabled me to complete the research and prepare the final text. 88