Courbet is very important in French painting for two reasons.

Both the subject matter and the physical substance of French painting were reinvented in his best works.

The influence of French painting upon myself and others is natural enough.

Mollie knew they were all French paintings, although she couldn't remember the names.

French 18th-century painting does not come any better than this.

He was also a sensitive portrait painter, and played a leading part in French painting of the 1630s.

No one who cares for French 19th-century painting should miss it.

But they all, in their way, have something to add to the long canon of French painting.

So did his wife's particular fondness for French painting of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The most satisfying way to approach the show may be as a selected survey of French painting.