The Budapest Museum of Fine Arts is justly famous for its collection of Spanish paintings, the finest of which—painted between the middle of the seventeenth and the first quarter of the nineteenth century—are illustrated in two volumes by Marianna Haraszti-Takacs. In this volume she considers the development from Zurbaran to Goya, from the works—monumental or devotional—created by a member of the religious order to those of the critical and rebellious master, whose experiments foreshadowed the development of modern painting. The inflexible atmosphere of the Spanish court, the puppet-like representatives of the royal family and high-ranking courtiers may be seen in pictures by Velazquez, Mazo and Carreno; but it is hearty country folk, simple craftsmen and even beggars and tramps who are depicted in Murillo's or Villavicencio's works. The paintings of Goya, the last great master included in this volume, reflects as it were a synthesis of these two trends, in both of which religious themes predominate.