Born in France of English parents, Alfred Sisley is the least-known of the original group of painters who came be known as the Impressionists. Overshadowed for more than a century by his friends Monet, Renoir and Pissaro, he is at last receiving his deserved recognition. This biography of Sisley charts the development of his career from comfortable middle-class beginnings through the flowering of his artistic genius. Despite later poverty and continual critical neglect, the artist never wavered in his commitment to his paintings and his vision. He painted the world about him - churches, bridges, rivers, fields and trees in various moods and lights, and the changing sky which was his inspiration. His paintings, 60 of which are reproduced in this book, reflect the obsession with nature which was fundamental to the Impressionist movement. Vivienne Couldrey is a novelist and short-story writer, and the author of The Art of Louis Comfort Tiffany.