Other Recent Books
NONO GOKALVES. With an Introduction by Reynaldo dos Santos. (Phaidon Press, 42s.) The majority of Phaidon books give us a better illustrated or less usual presentation of the works of painters whose names are familiar, even if we do not know all their works. But there are fcw outside Portugal who will ever have heard of Gonsalves (active c. 1450-1470). Yet he was a painter of great ability, possessed of a very personal style, distinct on the one hand from the gentle Gothic manner of the Flemish world and on the other from the more experimental art of quattrocento Italy. He was very much a realist, who was not afraid of resorting to quite violent means to achieve the ends he sought. Though claims that he was the equal of the Van Eycks can hardly be taken seriously, we will all be the richer for learning something of his work. Dr. dos Santos's intro- duction (pp. 7-18) is excellent, and there are forty-two fine plates, ten of which are in colour.
D. TALBOT RICE
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