Degas was a celebrity in Britain in his lifetime, thanks originally
to George Moore's pioneering essay, `The Painter of Modern
Life'. When Degas died Moore reprised the essay with
some further recollections, in part as a riposte to the memoir
published by Degas's great admirer and follower, Walter Sickert.
Sickert's essay, sparkling, engaged, witty and occasionally
combative, is amongst the best of his writings.
Together these memoirs represent some of the most vivid
responses to Impressionism in English - as well as painting
an intimate picture of arguably the most important and most
influential - and the most humane - of the painters of the later
19th century.
Hitherto difficult to find, these essays are reprinted here
with an introduction by Anna Gruetzner Robins, and are illustrated
with thirty pages of colour plates covering the span
of Degas's dazzling career.