The Judgment of Paris: The Revolutionary Decade That Gave the World Impressionism

I've got a bit of a gap in my knowledge of European history.  Once you pass the Renaissance, I'm a bit hazy on the mainland.  I haven't thought about Napoleon III since I took European History in high school.  That made it hard to enjoy The Judgment of Paris.  I thought it would narrate the artistic revolution that brought us Delacroix, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cassat, and others.  While Ross King addressed the artistic trends at the time, he mixed professional politics with real politics, and with the European wars that flared in the middle of the 19th Century.  So I'm torn - it's a well written book covering a fascinating topic, but not a topic about which I particularly care.  I'd much rather read the book I thought it would be.