My thanks must go first of all to Paula Rego herself, for her unwavering generosity in talking to me, in giving me so much of her time, and in generously supplying me with photographs and transparencies of her works as reproduced here. And above all for practising what she preaches: the freedom she grants to those of us who write about her work is the best of lessons in applied democracy.
Deepest gratitude is also due to Michael Brick, whose fault this book largely is, for encouraging me to stray temporarily outside my literary patch into art, and for giving me confidence and abundance of help once there.
Para a minha irmãzinha, Ismene Lada-Richards, e para a sua Juliette. Thanks can never be enough to Victoria Best, Robert Evans, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh and Arthur Rowland, and their ever present shoulders.
Robert Hinde has for many years now provided much more than intellectual support: proofreading, tea, sympathy. A friend indeed whenever there is need.
High in my pantheon is David Lowe, Head of Foreign Cataloguing at the University Library, Cambridge. Without David's legendary competence, helpfulness, charm and cups of tea, the acquisition of material for parts of this book would have been impossible, and for large parts of it much more painful.
Margarida Calafate Ribeiro was, as ever, formidably generous with specific help in hunting down certain Portuguese paintings and moreover provided me with inestimable items of bibliography, reading material and documentation regarding the Estado Novo and Paula Rego, Our shared primary school reading books are the oddest of connections, two continents apart, and her gentle suggestions for further probing helped me to fill in many of the lacunae in this book. Profound thanks are also due to Coral Neale, who saves me from administrative disaster on average once a month (once a week in term time).
My gratitude also to Helder Macedo for his kindness, support and friendship, during writing, to Carli Coetzee for her affectionate support and to Kirsten Weissenberg for her endless patience.
Anthony Rudolf generously proofread the book and contributed more than one little gem towards interpretation. Thanks to Helena Vasconcelos: for helping me to remember.
Thanks are also due to David Midgley, for many conversations which helped me to broaden my understanding of some of the political forces relating to European fascism, as discussed in this book; Margaret Jull Costa for generously allowing me to help myself to her translation of The Crime of Father Amaro prior to publication and sharing with me our common separation anxiety with regard to letting go of final drafts; and Sue Mansfield for bailing me out of technical difficulties on an almost daily basis.
To me she will always be Mrs Vidal, although she has now changed her name. As my A' Level French teacher, she gave me one of those vital pushes in the right direction, whose importance only became apparent much later in life.
Maria José Agostinho and Maria Elvira Evaristo of the Arquivo Histórico de Educação and Ministério da Educação and Madalena Garcia of the Museu de Arte Popular de Lisboa patiently assisted me in unearthing various paintings in Portuguese archives.
The Comissão para a Igualdade e para os Direitos das Mulheres in Portugal generously provided me with an extremely useful bibliography and material on abortion in Portugal.
I wish to thank also the following friends and colleagues who variously read and commented on parts of the book, pointed me towards bibliographical material, supplied me with references, helped in my dealings with museums across the world and generally participated in bringing the book into being by supporting me with their friendship: Pierpaolo Antonello, Patricia Odber de Baubeta, Patrick Boyde, Luís Adriano Carlos, João Cézar de Castro, John Crook, the Dominican Brothers in Cambridge, Robert Evans, Sonia Morillo Garcia, Douglas Herring, Maria José Martinez Jurico, Peter Linehan, Paulo de Medeiros, Hilary Owen, Karl Posso, Maria Teresa Moreira Rato, Arthur Rowland, Simon Szreter, Isabel de Almeida Vervaeck, George Watson, Anne Woolf (Mrs Ogre) and Richard Zimler.
Almost last but by no means least, Isabel Santaolalla and Peter Evans who soothe the anxieties of my maternal heart.
And finally to Laura Caroline Lisboa Brick for making all the important things clear.
Grants by St John's College, Cambridge and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation made possible the inclusion of a large number of reproductions of works by artists other than Paula Rego as well as a number of colour reproductions of Paula Rego's works
Marlborough Fine Art were most generous in providing me with essential transparencies of Paula Rego's works. Prudence Cumming Associates Ltd kindly waived photography rights on some of the images reproduced in this book.
A section of chapter 2 appears in a Portuguese version in Ana Paula Ferreira and Margarida Calafate Ribeiro (eds), Fantasias e Fantasmas Imperiais no Imaginário Português Contemporâneo, Porto: Campo das Letras (2003). A shorter version of chapter 4 appears in a special issue of the Luso-Brazilian Review, 39.2 (Winter 2002), guest editors Paulo de Medeiros and Hilary Owen.